Motorcades of French farmers set out this Sunday (5) to try to block roads around the capital Paris in protest against what they say is unfair competition from abroad and excessive regulation.
Farmers in France, the country that leads agricultural production in the European Union, led protests across Europe in early 2024, but the demonstrations lost strength as the year went on.
However, the initiative taken last month by gave new impetus to French farmers opposed to the pact.
The French remain unhappy with the regulations that, according to them, are affecting their profits.
Agricultural union representatives are due to meet with French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on January 13 to express their concerns.
“They don’t understand the level of misery and anguish that farmers are going through at the moment,” Amelie Rebiere, vice-president of the agricultural union Co-ordination Rurale, told BFM TV, an affiliate of CNN not country.
like Germany, say it offers a way to reduce dependence on trade with China and insulates EU nations from the impact of trade tariffs threatened by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
However, many European farmers — often led by the French — have repeatedly protested the EU-Mercosur deal, arguing that it would lead to cheap imports of South American commodities, particularly beef,
