Mercosur deal ‘disastrous’ for French farmers — don’t do it, Barnier says

BRUSSELS — The trade accord that the European Union wants to strike with the Mercosur bloc of South American nations would be “disastrous” for French farmers, Prime Minister Michel Barnier said in Brussels on Wednesday, saying it should not be passed against his country’s will.
Barnier spoke after meeting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, who are pushing to wrap up a free-trade deal that has been a quarter century in the making — and to which France is implacably opposed.
“On Mercosur, I told the president [von der Leyen] that under the current conditions this deal is not acceptable for France. It won’t be,” the conservative prime minister said on the doorstep of the Berlaymont, the headquarters of the EU executive.
“France’s worries are notably expressed through the disastrous impacts that this agreement would have for entire sectors, like livestock farming,” Barnier said, highlighting the concerns of French farmers over competition from what they see as cut-price and low-quality Argentinian and Brazilian beef.
President Emmanuel Macron, backed by protesting farmers, stalled progress towards a deal back in January, leading EU leaders to take the issue off the agenda before June’s European election. But with Macron’s liberals battered in both the EU election and national polls that followed, they are pushing once again towards the finish line.
With negotiators looking to wrap up the deal at a Mercosur summit in Uruguay in early December, France is casting around for allies to help it muster a qualified minority — representing 35 percent of the EU population — that would be sufficient to block it when it comes to a vote among the bloc’s 27 member countries.
Barnier declined to say whether France would be able to pull together such a blocking minority, or which countries might support it. But, he added, it would be wrong “to bypass a country like France” in the course of qualified majority voting on the deal.
French farmers plan to stage protests against the Mercosur deal on Monday, when European and South American leaders will be among the participants meeting for a Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.
In a readout of their conversation, Dombrovskis described his conversation with Barnier as “constructive and cordial” and — without going into detail — said they had discussed the Mercosur trade agreement.
Additional reporting by Camille Gijs.