Soon to be concluded?

Mercosur: French farmers rise up again

France's farmers consider the Mercosur pact to be extremely dangerous for their existence.

(Bild: APA/AFP/ARNAUD FINISTRE)

Representatives of the EU and Brazil are confident that the controversial Mercosur trade agreement will finally be concluded this year. The last remaining resistance - particularly among agricultural associations in several countries - is to be overcome with the help of a compensation fund worth billions. However, these measures have also met with skepticism. French farmers are once again taking their displeasure to the streets.

Farmers took to the streets across the country on Monday, blocking roads with tractors, lighting protest fires and erecting wooden crosses. Further actions are planned for the coming weeks. 

The French farmers also took up the massive protests that lasted for months last winter: Concessions promised by the government in Paris as a result had not been implemented. Back then, the demonstrations were mainly sparked by high fuel prices. Regular tractor blockades led to massive traffic disruptions.

A tractor caravan in the southwest of France

(Bild: APA/AFP/ROMAIN PERROCHEAU)

France's farmers consider the Mercosur pact to be extremely dangerous for their livelihoods.

(Bild: APA/AFP/ARNAUD FINISTRE)

Local signs and coffins on a trailer are intended to draw attention to the death of farmers in many regions of France.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Lionel BONAVENTURE)

The protests are to be intensified over the next few days.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Francois NASCIMBENI)

Mobilization in Germany too
Mobilization against the pact is also taking place in Germany. The German Farmers' Association called for the agreement to be stopped on Monday. "This agreement would be unilaterally detrimental to our agriculture," warned German Farmers' President Joachim Rukwied. Domestic production would be "displaced by agricultural imports at standards from the last century". There needs to be compensation for the differences between international and European environmental, climate and animal welfare standards; the Mercosur agreement should therefore be stopped and fundamentally renegotiated.

The EU-Mercosur pact

The Mercosur group includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and, more recently, Bolivia. Among other things, the EU-Mercosur Pact provides for an increase in the import quota for cheap beef from the current 200,000 tons to 300,000 tons per year. The import quota for sugar is to be increased by 10,000 tons, while the import quota for bioethanol - which is also obtained from sugar cane - is to rise by as much as 650,000 tons.

The pact would further fuel slash-and-burn agriculture in the Amazon region, while sugar beet farmers and cattle breeders in Austria would come under enormous economic pressure, warn climate activists. The EU is already importing agricultural goods that are directly responsible for the destruction of 120,000 hectares of forest every year in the five Mercosur countries alone. That's one soccer pitch of forest every three minutes.

Back in 2019, the Austrian National Council made a binding commitment to say no to EU-Mercosur. This decision is still supported by the population: according to a survey published in 2023 by the Spar retail chain and Greenpeace, a large majority of 87% of Austrians reject the trade agreement.

German business associations and the federal government, on the other hand, have been pushing for final ratification for years. EU Commission President von der Leyen is driving this forward. "The devil is always in the detail," she said in Brazil on Sunday. "The home straight is the most important, but often also the most difficult."

Macron wants to refuse to sign
French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his rejection of the Mercosur agreement during a visit to Argentina on Sunday. France rejects it, he said. "We don't believe in the agreement as it was negotiated." Austria is also one of the countries that are critical of the agreement. In addition to environmental concerns, the expected competition for domestic agriculture is likely to be the deciding factor here.

Industry associations, but also the majority of EU countries, are pushing for a swift conclusion. Above all, the threat posed to Europe by the trade policy of US President-elect Donald Trump is likely to have convinced many a capital city. They do not want to look like losers between the two blocs of the USA and China. It is uncertain whether Macron will succeed in bringing together a blocking minority in the EU.