Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Protesters lit fires and hurled potatoes at riot police who responded with teargas and water cannon in Brussels Thursday, as tensions boiled over at a farmer demonstration against the EU’s planned trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur. About 1,000 honking tractors rolled into the Belgian capital to heap pressure on an EU leaders’ summit where the deal’s fate hung in the balance. “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.”
At least 7,000 farmers staged a mostly peaceful march through the capital’s European quarter, where the Mercosur deal loomed large over an EU summit focused on funding Ukraine’s war effort. But rowdy scenes erupted outside the European Parliament, where protesters set off fireworks and hurled tubers, bottles, and other objects at the police, who responded with tear gas. Police charged several times to clear the area. Some 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. A wooden coffin emblazoned with the word “agriculture” was placed on a nearby statue, and AFP witnessed acts of vandalism by troublemakers on the sidelines of the protest.
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 Mercosur deal will see them undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbors. “It’s going to be the end of some farming sectors,” said Olivier Hardouin, 41, who had come from France to protest, accusing Brussels of having betrayed the industry. Plans by the commission chief to fly to Brazil this weekend to sign the agreement were thrown in jeopardy Wednesday after Italy joined fellow heavyweight France in seeking a delay.
The EU-Mercosur pact 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, stating 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 consider that we are not there yet, and the deal cannot be signed” as it stands, Macron told reporters, vowing France would oppose any “attempt to force this through”. Von der Leyen, who met Thursday with a farmers’ delegation to hear their concerns, said she still hoped for an accord. “It is of enormous importance that we get the green light for Mercosur and that we can complete the signatures,” she said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz echoed her message, saying: “If the European Union wants to remain credible in global trade policy, then decisions must be made now.” But with Paris, Italy, Hungary, and Poland in opposition, the deal’s critics would now have enough clout within the European Council to shoot down the deal, were it to be put to a vote. The last-mile upset in European ranks drew a stern rebuke Wednesday from Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who told his EU partners the time to close the deal was now or never. Farmers are also incensed at EU plans to overhaul the 27-nation bloc’s huge farming subsidies, fearing less money will flow their way. “They make a lot of promises but we’d like to see action, not words and we’re really starting to get fed up with it,” said Romain Yanet, a 20-year-old French farmer.
© 2024 AFP
