While French farmers show their strong discontent and are threatening further action, France will not accept the European Union-Mercosur free trade agreement “under the current conditions”, insisted the French Prime Minister French Michel Barnier at the end of a meeting in Brussels with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
“I told the President that, under the current conditions, this agreement is not acceptable to France and it won’t be,” he told reporters. “I recommend that the position of a country like France should not be overridden,” he added.
The European Union wants to sign before January
The European Union seems determined to sign this free trade agreement with the Latin American countries of Mercosur (BrazilArgentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia).
At the Council of Ministers meeting prior to his departure, “the government reiterated its absolute opposition to a treaty that would jeopardize our livestock farmers”, reported government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon. “This treaty is unacceptable, both for ecological reasons and because of the unfair competition it entails”, she added.