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French farmer Alix Heurtault fears the trade deal will make her job more difficult.
As the ink dried on one of the world's biggest trade deals, signed in Uruguay this month and hailed as a milestone for the global economy, anger simmered thousands of miles away in France.
Under the agreement between the EU, on the one hand, and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, on the other hand, customs duties will be significantly reduced and import quantities and authorized exports will be increased.
The agreement would affect nearly 800 million people.
This stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump's plans to significantly increase protectionism when he returns to the White House next month.
The deal still needs to be approved by all 27 EU member states, and France is considering blocking it, fearing it could harm its agricultural sector.
Alix Heurtault, a 34-year-old French farmer, says she is worried about her future if the planned deal goes through.
“I fear the deal will make it even harder for farmers like me to make ends meet,” she says.
She therefore crosses her fingers that the French government manages to arrest him.
The planned trade deal will see more South American beef, chicken and sugar arriving in the EU at lower prices. In the opposite direction, the European automobile, clothing and wine sectors would have greater access to the Mercosur zone.
For France to block the deal, it will have to persuade at least three other EU countries, representing at least 35% of the total population, to join it. Ireland, Poland and Austria also oppose it, but Italy will probably also have to join in to meet the required population quota.
And with the media giving very conflicting information about Italy's position, we will have to wait and see which direction the Italians take when the vote takes place in 2025.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed the agreement with South American leaders, but it still needs to be ratified by EU member states.
Meanwhile, French farmers continue to pressure Paris not to back down. French President Emmanuel Macron is listening and called the trade deal “unacceptable in its current form.”
Ms. Heurtault grows sugar beet, wheat and barley on a 150-hectare farm in the small village of Villeneuve-sur-Auvers located 60 km south of Paris.
She says the deal would deal a blow to French farmers in order to help European manufacturers. “We feel like we are a bargaining chip. Farmers in Mercosur countries (the name of the bloc Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) have fewer pesticide restrictions and lower labor costs. inferior works.”
Ms. Heurtault's view is widely shared in the French agricultural sector, which has regularly organized protests in recent months.
A few weeks ago, some 200 farmers threw bales of straw in front of the Grand Palais museum and exhibition center in Paris.
They lit red flares and chanted slogans such as “We feed you, show us some respect.”
The protest took place to coincide with an annual meeting of raw material importers and exporters being held at the venue.
Stéphane Gallais, cattle breeder and national secretary of the agricultural union Confédération Paysanne, organizer of the event, explained the reasons for holding it.
“Today's demonstration is a stand against free trade, in particular against the EU-Mercosur agreement which we have opposed since it was first discussed in the late 1990s,” he said. he declared.
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French farmers' protests have been loud and colorful
While France is opposed to the trade deal, other EU countries, such as Germany, Spain and Portugal, are strongly in favor of it.
Supporters welcome the fact that this would be a marked contrast to Trump's threats of increased protectionism.
“This would be a good signal at a time when we are seeing a move in the opposite direction towards economic fragmentation and protectionism, especially with the re-election of free trade-skeptic US President Donald Trump,” says Uri Dadush, research professor of trade policy at the University of Washington. the University of Maryland in the United States.
Professor Dadush adds that although European farmers will suffer a negative impact, he believes it will be very limited.
“The agreement poses a threat to European farmers, as the most competitive agricultural sector in the world has access to its market, but we are talking about a tiny liberalization spread over a long period of time,” he says.
He points out that under the deal, Mercosur countries would still have limits on what they can export to the EU. For example, their initial proposal to increase the annual beef export quota still represents less than 1% of European meat consumption.
Professor Dadush adds that “the agreement is an opportunity to push for much-needed market-oriented reform in the EU's heavily subsidized agricultural sector and Mercosur's highly protected industrial sector.”
Chris Hegadorn, assistant professor of global food policies at Sciences Po, University of Paris, and former secretary of the UN Committee on World Food Security, says the deal would benefit Europe overall, including its farmers.
“It obviously depends on the subcategory you consider, but French cheese and wine producers will benefit,” he says.
He adds that it will also improve health and environmental standards in Mercosur countries, and strengthen ties with the EU at a time when “China is also trying to gain a foothold in Latin America.”
But David Cayla, professor of economics at the University of Angers and member of the left-wing collective “Les Economistes Consternés”, doubts that the EU will be capable of imposing higher standards in Latin American countries.
“It is impossible to control their implementation,” he says. “Our farmers will only face increased competition from countries with better climates and more fertile soils.
“But we must protect European agriculture – it is also a question of food sovereignty,” he emphasizes, adding that the Covid-19 pandemic has shown how quickly global supply chains can collapse in times of crisis.
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Farmer Antoine Gomel says trade deal risks further depopulating French countryside
Antoine Gomel, who took over his family's 24-hectare chicken and beef farm in 2017 in a small village near Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France, says opposing the trade deal, it's saving the French countryside.
“Farms continue to disappear, leaving our villages deserted. The agreement will only accelerate this phenomenon,” declares this 42-year-old man.
“But farms are crucial for the cohesion of the countryside, not least because they create jobs. People in France and abroad are increasingly voting for the far right because they feel disoriented and alone .
“Farms can help bring them together, literally anchoring them.”
Back in front of the Grand Palais in Paris, cleaners were sweeping up the demonstrators' leftover straw.
Farmer Stéphane Gallais was always nearby and watching them. “The EU-Mercosur deal is very damaging and it would be really symbolic if EU member states do not ratify it,” he said.
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