The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, said he believes that Carrefour will reverse its decision. The head of the economic team stated that the boycott announced by the company’s global CEO, Alexandre Bompard, “doesn’t make much sense” and classified the reaction of Brazilian meatpackers as “justifiable”.
“I’m not going to comment on the company’s attitude, but anyway, there was a justifiable reaction to this type of statement. A company that is installed in Brazil doesn’t make much sense [boicotar carne do Mercosul]. But I don’t want to dwell on this because I believe the company will reposition itself”, Haddad told journalists this Monday (25).
On the 20th, Bompard announced the restriction against Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay and questioned the quality standard of the product. The decision came amid a wave of protests by French farmers against the proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur.
A day later, Brazilian slaughterhouses stopped supplying beef to Carrefour in Brazil. The Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, said that the order from the company’s CEO is a .
“This is absurd. If he doesn’t want to buy Brazilian products, it’s simple, he doesn’t buy it. If he doesn’t want to buy it, he says he doesn’t want it. Now, to say that it doesn’t have sanitary quality? It’s been 40 years since France has been buying meat from Brazil . And you do this now? We won’t admit that, because the most precious thing we have is the health quality of our meat. Folha de S. Paulothis Monday (25).
Brazilian Embassy in France criticizes statements by Carrefour CEO
Earlier, the Brazilian Embassy in France said, in a statement, that Bompard’s statements about the quality of Brazilian meat are “unfounded” and “false”.
The diplomatic representation reinforced that Brazil “is proud of being, for decades, a supplier of animal protein to the European market, but also of its ability to fully meet European requirements and the most rigorous health controls in the world”.
“Brazil democratically respects the opposition of any sector to the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. Such a position, however, cannot justify a public campaign based on the widespread dissemination of misinformation about Brazilian producers”, says an excerpt from the statement.
