Arnaud Rousseau, President of the French National Federation of Farmers’ Unions, sent a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday 22 June, calling on him to “stand firm” on the EU/Mercosur trade agreement.
The French President is to receive the Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in Paris on 22 and 23 June, and the FNSEA is concerned that a meeting between the two heads of state will “upset the commitments made to French farmers”. Mr Rousseau points out that, in his view, the agreement would be “a source of unacceptable distortion of competition, leading to further production losses in France”.
Emmanuel Macron must therefore remain firm on the French position against the agreement in its current state, insists the farmers’ representative.
However, this is not the view of representatives of European, Brazilian and Argentinian textile manufacturers, who published a joint letter on the same day calling on the contracting parties to “take the necessary steps to finalise the agreement”.
For them, the treaty is essential to promote free and sustainable trade between the two blocs. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)