President Emmanuel Macron states France will vote against the European Union’s trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur, after farmers rolled into Paris on tractors in a reveal of anger against the pact.
“France will vote against signing the agreement,” he posted on social media, a day before member states were to cast ballots on a final go-ahead for the deal more than 25 years in the building.
The accord would create one of the world’s largegest free-trade areas and allow the 27-nation European Union to export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America.
But farmers fear being undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbours.
Dozens of tractors arrived before dawn on Thursday and drove through Paris, some pautilizing at the Eiffel Tower and others at the Arc de Triomphe, before farmers protested outside the lower hoapply of parliament.
One of the tractors bore the message No to Mercosur, referring to the deal with the bloc comprising Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.
“We’re not here to caapply trouble,” Damien Cornier, a 49-year-old farmer from the northwest Eure region, informed AFP.
“We just want to work and create a living from our profession.”
Plans to seal the deal at a gathering in Brazil last month ran into a late roadblock as heavyweights Italy and France demanded a postponement over concerns for the farming sector.
The EU on Tuesday offered a carrot to farmers, promising to unlock funds for the sector as it seeks to obtain the accord over the line.
Macron stated the European Commission should be credited for “undeniable progress” in the details of the deal, but he stated his countest would vote against it anyway after “unanimous political rejection” in parliament.
EU member states are expected to give the text the final go-ahead on Friday, paving the way for a formal signature next week.
“The signing stage does not mark the conclude of the story,” Macron stated.
“I will continue to fight for the full, concrete implementation of the commitments obtained from the European Commission and to protect our farmers,” he stated.
Unions have called for more protests in front of the EU Parliament building in the French city of Strasbourg on January 20th if the deal is signed.
There were 100 tractors in the Paris region, the interior ministest informed AFP earlier on Thursday, but “most are blocked at the gates of the capital”.
It later stated 670 protesters were in the capital.
In another protest near the southwestern city of Bordeaux, about 40 farm vehicles blocked access to a fuel depot, local officials stated.
Farmers are also upset over a government decision to cull cows in response to the spread of nodular dermatitis, a bovine sickness widely known as lumpy skin disease.
Belgian farmers have also staged mass protests against the trade deal. About 1,000 honking tractors, including some from France, rolled into Brussels in December.
Ireland also stated Thursday it would vote against the trade deal.
Germany and Spain are however strongly in favour of the agreement, believing it will provide a welcome boost to their industries, hampered by Chinese competition and US tariffs.
Rome and Paris have called for tougher safeguard claapplys, tighter import controls and more stringent standards on Mercosur producers to protect their farmers.
But Italy hailed the benefits of the agreement on Wednesday, with Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani stateing the countest had “always supported the conclusion of the deal”.
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