A few days after European Commission President Ursula von del Leyen signed a long-pending trade agreement with four South American nations, French farmers were back on the streets dumping manure. This time they parked the tractors near the tunnel in Calais that goes through the English Channel, according to a report from German political and business analyst Uwe Hessler.
Add your comment!Why is France so committed to avoid making viable the European Union/Mercosur trade and cooperation agreement? Interest group in France argue that domestic agribusiness has been undergoing profound structural changes over the past few decades, among which declining productivity, rising costs, and a waning interest among younger generations in pursuing agricultural work.
French President Emmanuel Macron told his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei once again during their meeting Sunday at Casa Rosada that his country would not sign the European Union (EU)-Southern Common Market (Mercosur) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) “as is.”
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.