Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Police fired teargas at farmers protesting the EU’s planned trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur in Brussels Thursday, as Brazil opened the door to postponing its signature to win over reluctant Europeans. About 1,000 honking tractors rolled into the Belgian capital, where the deal loomed large over an EU summit focused on funding Ukraine’s war effort.
EU plans to have the pact sealed this week were thrown into disarray by Italy joining fellow heavyweight France in demanding a delay. The last-mile upset drew a now-or-never ultimatum from Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — but he softened his tone Thursday, saying he would present an Italian request for a delay to fellow Mercosur nations. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “asked me that if we have patience for a week, 10 days, a month, Italy will be ready for the agreement,” Lula said after a phone call with Meloni, adding the request would be discussed at a meeting of the Mercosur trading bloc.
Key power Germany, as well as Spain and the Nordic countries, strongly support the Mercosur pact, eager to boost exports as Europe grapples with Chinese competition and a tariff-happy administration in the White House. But farmers, particularly in France, worry the deal will see them undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbors. Tensions boiled over in Brussels Thursday after a mostly peaceful protest involving at least 7,000 farmers.
Rowdy scenes erupted outside the European Parliament, where protesters lit fires, set off fireworks, and hurled potatoes, bottles, and other objects at the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon. “We’re here to say no to Mercosur,” Belgian dairy farmer Maxime Mabille told AFP, accusing European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen of seeking to “force the deal through.” Police charged several times to clear the area. Minor scuffles ensued and at least a handful of people were arrested, an AFP reporter saw. Tractors blocked roads leading to the parliament building, with some at times driving up to police lines in a confrontational manner.
“It’s going to be the end of some farming sectors,” Olivier Hardouin, a 41-year-old who had come from France to protest said of the pact, accusing Brussels of having betrayed the industry. Farmers are also incensed at EU plans to overhaul the 27-nation bloc’s huge farming subsidies, fearing less money will flow their way. The EU-Mercosur deal would create the world’s biggest free-trade area and help the EU to export more vehicles, machinery, wines, and spirits to Latin America at a time of global trade tensions. But farmers say it would also facilitate the entry into Europe of beef, sugar, rice, honey, and soybeans produced by their less-regulated South American counterparts.
“It’s not fair,” said Luis, a 24-year-old cattle farmer from Belgium’s French-speaking south who did not want to give his full name, pulling his sweater above his nose against the tear gas hanging in the air. “They are going to export cheap meat that is going to lower our prices,” he said — saying that South American farmers used cheap feed as well as hormones banned in principle under the deal but in practice hard to detect.
Paris and Rome have been calling for more robust safeguard clauses, tighter import controls, and more stringent standards for Mercosur producers. President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday that France would not support the deal without stronger safeguards for its farmers. “We are not there yet, and the deal cannot be signed,” Macron told reporters.
Von der Leyen, who met Thursday with a farmers’ delegation to hear their concerns, said she still hoped for an accord. But a delay appeared on the cards, as with Paris, Italy, Hungary, and Poland in opposition, the deal’s critics would have enough clout within the European Council to shoot down the deal, were it to be put to a vote. “The Italian Government is ready to sign the agreement as soon as farmers are given the necessary answers, which depend on the decisions of the European Commission and can be defined in a short period of time,” Rome said in a statement.
© 2024 AFP
