Symbolic vote was approved with 484 parliamentarians in favor; discussion in the Assembly takes place after Carrefour announces boycott of Brazilian meat
The National Assembly of France , voted and approved this Tuesday (November 26, 2024) the opposition position of President Emmanuel Macron (Renaissance, center) to the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. Macron is the main European leader against the agreement and is putting pressure on the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, so that the treaty is not established.
In the vote, 484 deputies approved Macron’s actions, 70 disapproved and 1 abstained. The vote was symbolic and does not change the course of negotiations between the blocs. The parliamentarians who voted against, the majority from left-wing parties, said that the French president needs to be more incisive so that the agreement can be blocked.
The discussion in the National Assembly takes place after the French hypermarket chain Carrefour boycott of Brazilian meat on Wednesday (Nov. 20). This led to a reprisal from Brazilian meatpackers, who suspended the supply of meat to chains in the country – which .
In France, the situation remains unchanged. Carrefour will not buy meat from producers in Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), but this makes little difference. France already imports very little animal protein from these Latin American countries. Companies in France are under pressure from the local agricultural sector, .
The network’s CEO in France, Alexandre Bompard, which took the action of boycotting Mercosur meat because South American products do not meet French requirements and standards, which has caused stress among French producers. Read the of the letter written by Bompart (PDF – 142 kB, in French).
OPPOSITION TO THE EU-MERCOSUR AGREEMENT
For the agreement to come into force, all 27 EU member countries must approve it. France, however, is against it. Macron claims that the agreement does not meet French interests and prevents the conclusion of negotiations.
European farmers, especially those in France, express concern regarding environmental practices in the Brazilian agricultural sector, claiming that they harm the environment in the search for greater productivity.
French parliamentarians say that allowing the use of pesticides in Mercosur countries puts European consumers at risk. They also accuse Brazil of deforesting a territory in the Amazon equivalent to that of Portugal and Spain.
