French farmers stepped up their protests Tuesday against a proposed trade pact between the European Union and four South American countries, blocking a key motorway on the border with Spain and vowing to sow “chaos.”
The French government is leading resistance against ratification of the trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which would create the world’s largest free-trade zone.
The new wave of action comes after farmers across Europe, including France, mounted rolling protests last winter over a long list of burdens they say are squeezing revenue.
Dozens of farmers backed by Coordination Rurale (CR), a hard-line farming union, set up a roadblock on the A9 motorway at the southern town of Le Boulou, close to the border with Spain, blocking lorries but allowing cars through, an AFP journalist saw.
“We’re going to block the A9, as well as fuel depots, ports and purchasing centres,” said Serge Bousquet-Cassagne, a CR representative in the southwest.
“We want to cause chaos and food shortages,” he said, adding that the blockade could last several days, pointing to “a river of fruit and vegetables arriving from Spain”.
The A9 motorway is a crucial trade route between the Iberian peninsula and the rest of Europe.
In the southwestern town of Agen, demonstrators dumped tyres in front of the prefecture.
The FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs (“Young Farmers”), the more moderate unions that together represent most farmers in France, also backed the protests.
According to the authorities, more than a dozen protests were under way just before noon, bringing together nearly 900 farmers and more than 300 pieces of farm machinery.
On Monday, farmers staged more than 80 protests across the country, setting up mock gallows and wooden crosses to symbolise the death of French agriculture.
They also blocked the Bridge of Europe, which links France and Germany, to protest against the European Commission’s plan to conclude the Mercosur treaty following two decades of talks.
In Bordeaux, on the banks of the Garonne, several dozen farmers burned uprooted vines on Monday evening.
– ‘Always hard’ –
France’s political class is unusually unanimous in its opposition to the Mercosur deal.
On Tuesday, government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said the government would propose a parliament debate followed by a vote, to “reinforce the position of the president and the prime minister.”
Bregeon said the government would “continue to fight as long as necessary” with the European Commission to oppose the treaty.
French farmers complain about excessive bureaucracy, low incomes and poor harvests.
They say they have been waiting for the authorities to deliver on the promises of support made by the government before President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament’s lower house in the summer, sparking a political crisis.
The proposed Mercosur pact has provoked fresh anger.
Farmers fear any agreement would open European Union markets to cheaper meat and produce from South American competitors, who are not forced to adhere to strict EU rules on pesticides, hormones, land use and environmental measures.
Cyriac Blanchet, 18, a third-generation farmer in the southwestern town of Monsegur, said there had been no progress since last winter’s outpouring of anger.
“It’s always getting more complicated, it’s always hard, I don’t want to do it any more, it disgusts me,” Blanchet said.
Macron said Monday that France was not alone in opposing the accord.
“Contrary to what many people think, France is not isolated and several countries are joining us,” Macron said in Brazil, where he was attending a G20 summit.
He said the agreement had been in the works for several decades and was “based on preconditions that are now obsolete”.
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