Less than a year after a movement of historic scale and despite a series of measures, agricultural mobilization is resuming in France and should increase in the coming days. At issue: the G20 summit in Brazil, where the free trade treaty with Mercosur could be signed.
They are ready to bring out the tractors, not out of joy but out of exhaustion and anger: despite numerous emergency aid and announcements from the government, the majority union alliance FNSEA-JA called for national actions once the winter sowing completed, “from mid-November”, and in particular the week of November 18, to protest against a potential signing of an agreement with Mercosur on the occasion of the opening of the G20 summit in Brazil.
The Rural Coordination, the second agricultural union in the country, some executives of which display their proximity to the extreme right, promises “an agricultural revolt” from November 19, with a “blockade of food freight”. As for the Peasant Confederation, the third union force, it is planning actions this week against “free trade agreements” or “land grabbing by energy companies”. Other more local issues will also be addressed.
No EU-Mercosur deal
The demands of the farmers are clear: they do not want the signing of a free trade treaty with “Mercosur”, a major economic and political alliance founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which brings together several countries from South America (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia). Mercosur is one of the most important trade agreements in the world, with nearly 780 million people affected and trade volumes of between 40 and 45 billion euros in imports and exports.
The free trade treaty with the EU provides for the complete or partial elimination, depending on the product, of customs duties between EU and Mercosur member countries, particularly on industrial issues (vehicles, medicines, etc.). ) and agricultural. But also to establish quotas below which South American products would not be taxed: 180,000 tonnes per year for sugar, 100,000 tonnes for poultry and 99,000 tonnes for beef. The full list also includes pork (25,000 tonnes per year) and rice (60,000 tonnes per year).
In exchange, taxes imposed on European products by Mercosur would be removed on many products: wine, chocolate, biscuits, soft drinks and even spirits. Dairy products as well as cheeses produced within the EU would be affected by “large quotas” without taxes. But opposition from several countries, including France, blocked its final adoption, defended on the other hand by Germany. Certain terms of the agreement are particularly strongly rejected by French farmers.
Large farmers’ unions denounce “unfair competition” from large South American farms. Farmers are also demanding that imported products be subject to the same standards as French products. At the end of 2023, the French sugar, poultry, cereals and meat inter-professional associations regretted the absence of “mirror clauses” on “environmental and health production standards”. The latter therefore fear that the market will be flooded with products that do not meet European standards, such as GMO corn or “chicken doped with antibiotics”.
GNR, environmental standards, and climatic hazards
Furthermore, farmers are demanding other measures for more local but no less important issues. This is particularly the case for the taxation of GNR, for the reduction of environmental standards, for better consideration of climatic hazards in crops, between droughts and torrential rains, or even for the simplification of the “administrative millefeuille” which is applies to farmers.
Since the beginning of October, actions have multiplied in the regions: a heifer disemboweled by a wolf left in front of a sub-prefecture in Doubs, a funeral vigil held in “the memory of French agriculture” in Corrèze, or even chrysanthemums placed at the foot of crosses symbolizing Vosges breeders abandoned by the Lactalis dairy group. Starting last year from Tarn, with a severe lack of water, the mobilization is this time fueled by problems due to excess water. In 2024, France experienced its worst wheat harvest in 40 years and saw its harvest fall by a quarter.
From the Pyrenees to the Belgian border, herds of cows and sheep are suffering from diseases threatening the fertility of surviving animals and therefore future production. “Without a structural response, the crisis has never stopped and it has greatly worsened due to climatic hazards,” underlines Laurence Marandola, spokesperson for the Peasant Confederation.
Annie Genevard warns against blockages
Since January, the government has increased its commitments, released hundreds of millions of euros in aid, put an agricultural orientation law in motion and tackled the administrative millefeuille denounced by farmers. The Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard, thus spoke of her “obsession” with honoring the commitments made, such as an annual “single administrative control” of farms or “loans guaranteed by the State”.
If the latter says she “understands” the anger, she nevertheless issued some warnings this Tuesday: “There must be no violence against the police, no degradation of public property because it is the taxpayer who ultimately pays for it, no disorder as we approach the Christmas holidays which are so important for our small traders, our artisans,” she declared.
“We must be able to transport food, serve the businesses from which the French get their supplies. I invite everyone to a spirit of responsibility,” she added, calling for “not to break or damage the link between the French and farmers.”
But as the professional agricultural elections approach (in January), a union source recognizes a “temptation to one-upmanship” between the organizations, but also on the side of the political class. Furthermore, regarding the EU-Mercosur agreement, even in the event of a veto by France, it is the European Commission which has the mandate for the 27 countries of the Union. It could therefore circumvent this veto by revoking part of the treaty. Not enough to reassure our farmers.
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