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France is still trying to find a “blocking” minority in the EU to prevent Brussels from finalizing a landmark trade deal with Latin American countries that would hurt French farmers, President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday.
Speaking at the opening of France’s annual agricultural show in Paris, Macron said farmers should not be “an adjustment tool for purchasing power … nor an adjustment tool for trade agreements.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sealed the free-trade agreement last December, after 25 years of talks between the EU and Latin American countries that are part of Mercosur, which now includes Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela and Bolivia.
The trade deal still needs to be approved by at least 15 of the EU’s 27 member countries, representing at least 65 percent of the bloc’s population.
The Mercosur agreement is expected to unlock billions for the European economy by reducing tariffs on a range of EU exports including cars, wine, textiles and IT equipment — while also boosting EU access to raw materials from the region like lithium, and agricultural goods.
Europe’s farmers — especially in France, but also in Poland and Italy — have long rejected the deal, fearing competition from cheap Brazilian or Argentinian beef that is produced to lower environmental standards. The Commission has claimed such fears are overblown.
