484 for, 69 against and only one abstention, that of the Charente member of Cognacais, who stands alone in her group (with Elisabeth Borne who voted against the rejection of the proposal). A vote which earned him a tackle from Barthélémy Martin, his fallen rival in the legislative elections and departmental referent for Eric Ciotti's party, who accused “an inexcusable vote”. “Incomprehensible” for Frank Olivier, president of the Charente Rural Coordination. “There are interesting things in this agreement for a large part of French productions,” defends the parliamentarian. Starting with the cognac sector (read opposite).
“We must be able to guarantee our French sectors that they will be able to export”
“It’s about respecting AOCs, secure exchanges for our sectors and reducing customs duties. We must be able to guarantee our sectors that they will be able to export. Charente lives thanks to exports, not only for cognac but also for cereals. » She even says she is in favor of negotiated treaties with “the United States or China. »
“Protect the European market”
A position opposed to the 'small' Charentais farmers who fear competition from inexpensive and lower quality South American poultry or beef, the MP assures “that we currently have twice as much beef and poultry imported from Mercosur without an agreement if we had one and we control nothing.” Except that in the absence of mirror clauses, which would impose the same strict European standards, which is what agriculture is pleading for, there will be no question of control.
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This is what René Pilato, deputy for the Angoulême constituency, points out, who in unison with his LFI group voted against the government's proposal to reject. “Because we are not against the treaty as it stands but against any treaty.” “Today, we are unable to control whether the meat arriving in France has been raised with hormones. » Sandra Marsaud responds that controls led, in October, to the interruption of imports of Brazilian beef, possibly treated with a hormone banned in Europe since 1981. But for how many Brazilian beefs arrived in France without question? “The idea is also to trust,” argues the majority member. I don't think there are countries that are going to export to Europe and say 'we're going to send them shit'.” It is, however, to strengthen the guarantees.
“My obsession is to reduce flows,” continues René Pilato. If our cereals travel 6000 km to come back in the form of meat, that poses a problem to me. » On the contrary, he calls “to protect the European market” and encourages the cognac sector, which he must meet, to “depend less on exports and diversify, but for that, we must support them. »
Unsurprisingly, Caroline Colombier, RN deputy for northern Charente, voted for the rejection of the text.
Cognac rather favorable
Small producers risk losing their money. Large groups will be able to do well. Lactalis for example but also the cognac sector. Customs duties of 27% with South America could disappear. At France Info, Tatiana Mais, director of the cognac houses union (which we were unable to contact this Wednesday), affirmed that “it is important to be able to access new markets”, at a time when taxes Chinese and American concerns. The subject is, however, a bit sensitive. “The big priority is the United States and China,” says Florent Morillon, president of the BNIC. But in principle, we are in favor of the agreements. We must prepare for the future, we are looking at this closely. » He specifies, however, that “farmers also need to be helped”. Anthony Brun, president of the UGVC, the winegrowers' union, tempers this. “We don’t want to push a system that would have advantages for us but would bury other sectors.”
