By Oliver Pieper - The free trade deal between the European Union and the South American trade bloc Mercosur could become the world's largest agreement, involving a market of a total of 780 million people. But in late March, French President Emmanuel Macron not only described it as “a very bad agreement,” he even suggested it should be “left behind” and called for “a new agreement.”
French anti-government protesters put up a large poster of Jean-Baptiste Moreau, one of President Emmanuel Macron's farming experts, with the word “Wanted” on it outside a local government building on Tuesday, as anger over recent trade deals escalates.
French government has been trying to defuse the week-long protests by farmers over the collapsing prices of agriculture including cereals, milk and vegetables.The depression of prices is partly due to EU agriculture ministers, who have come under pressure from the French government to ease Russian trade sanctions and to remove excess meat and dairy products off the European market.
Dramatic protests across the north of France have won the country’s farmers €600m of emergency government help. This week thousands of tractors blockaded motorways and brought cities to a standstill, as the plight of producers dominated the nation’s news.
President Francois Hollande has said he would unveil emergency measures to help France’s livestock and dairy farmers on Wednesday. Tuesday’s announcement came as as livestock farmers caused chaos in the north west of France, using tractors and trucks full of manure and rubble to block roads.