A shock for the proud agricultural country: This year, for the first time, France is exporting as much food as it imports itself. For the first time in 50 years – previously there was always an increase of several billion euros. This number has been haunting debates in France for days. While Germany thinks of cars and machines when it comes to exports, in France agricultural products play the main role: it mainly exports wine, champagne, cheese, olive oil, but also beef – it is that Agricultural land with the highest turnover the EU.
The horror at this new weakness on the world market also explains why France is now taking tough action in Brussels against the Mercosur agreement: it is afraid of losing its importance. The agreement is intended to export of cars, machines, medical devices, dairy products and alcohol – in return, beef and chicken, rice, soy and sugar from South America should be able to be imported with lower tariffs. It would be the EU’s largest free trade agreement, involving lower tariffs for goods worth around 40 billion euros.
French farmers have been frustrated for a long time
It is unclear whether EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will be able to fly to Brazil on Saturday to sign the agreement. At the EU summit on Thursday, heads of state and government are likely to argue again about Mercosur. Poland has already taken a clear position against it. Hungary could still do that. A deal could also be concluded without the consent of the governments in Paris, Warsaw and Budapest. A qualified majority is needed to override the resistance that has been known so far.
On the other hand, a no from four EU states, which together make up 35 percent of the population, is enough for a blockade – and Italy is probably wobbling. If Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni switches to the camp of the opponents, this would at least delay the conclusion of the Mercosur agreement. Reuters reports that Macron and Meloni have already agreed to postpone the vote.
However, a delay could help Macron. Because this week could hardly be worse for him in terms of domestic politics to support Mercosur. After all, thousands of farmers are currently blocking important highways in the south of the country: They are protesting against the rule that all cattle in a herd must be killed if one of them is infected with the highly contagious disease “Lumpy skin disease” is affected. The police are powerless against the tractor columns – they have been blocking important traffic axes in the country, such as the A69 near Toulouse, for many days.
The current protest ostensibly has little to do with the agreement – but Mercosur is further fueling farmers’ frustration. Many demonstrators say they want to protest against agricultural policy overall and that they don’t feel heard. The powerful farmers’ associations also want to prevent the agreement. They do not believe that the so-called mirror clauses promised by Macron really apply: These are intended to ensure that imported goods meet the same standards as European products – for example when it comes to bans on pesticides and antibiotics. More radical and increasingly successful groups such as Coordination Rurale reject not only this agreement, but ultimately free trade as a whole. They demand national agricultural policy, their own laws and protective tariffs.
All parliamentarians are now also against Mercosur: at the end of November they adopted a resolution against approving the agreement with 244 votes. Only one MP voted against it – according to his own statement, he ““Accidentally” clicked the wrong button pressed. The resolution called for “the European Court of Justice to examine the compatibility of the EU-Mercosur agreement with the Union’s treaties.”
In addition, President Macron changed his position several times. During the 2022 election campaign, he promised to only agree to the agreement under the “strictest conditions”. For him personally, as a convinced advocate of an unrestricted market, this was certainly a concession to the power of the farmers in the country. Several U-turns followed: When Chancellor Friedrich Merz surprisingly announced at the end of October that all 27 EU states were in agreement, Macron contradicted himself. At the World Climate Conference in Belém he then commented positively on the agreement. Each time there were protests from farmers, who expressed their “extreme disappointment” on news broadcasts.
