French farmers occupied this Friday the streets With their tractors in protest against “Mercosur, Donald Trump’s tariffs and the avalanche of international imports that do not meet local standards.”
From early in the morning, some 3,000 of peasants summoned By French National Federation of Agricultural Unions (Fonsea) they mobilized throughout the country, carrying out 70 different actions in front of the prefectures or in the squares of the main cities, such as Versailles, Strange o Paso de Calaisto denounce the free trade agreement between Europe and Mercosur, but also for the passivity of the State before “taxes that drown the agricultural sector,” they say.
“We have been carrying out strong protests for two years with forceful messages (…) We have not received positive signals, no message from our President of the Republic. Nothing progresses,” Olivier Hardouin, president of the agricultural union La Fonsea 41, lamented this Friday.
French farmers have already blocked the streets for more than a year ago in protest for said European agreement that, according to the sector, not only endangers their business, also the health of the French. For two weeks, the peasants camped on highways and roads closing the passage to key places, such as airports or supply markets. After those protests, the prime minister of that time, Gabriel Attal, promised improvements in the sector to promote “food sovereignty.” However, the fall of Attal government And the inevitable pact between Europe and Mercosur caused, which today, those promises have not yet materialized.
“They promised us food sovereignty, but with the Mercosur We can only see a future of decreased production capacity. It is extremely difficult to plan. We do not even know if we will have to continue producing within a month, if we will have to plant or sow cereals. Today, we don’t have a positive perspective, “Hardouin criticized.
An “hypocritical” agreement
He President Emmanuel Macron has always manifested against of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Latin American countries of Mercosur, but Brussels refused to step back, and since then, the French government has been less reluctant to its implementation.
The agreement with Mercosur will allow the European Union Export more cars, machinery, wine and other products. In return, I know Import beef, poultry, sugar, honey and rice, which is a Commercial injustice For the farmers y ranchers. “We do not understand why meat is imported from the other side of the world, when French beef farmers suffer from reaching the end of the month,” criticized a farmer mobilized this Friday for microphones of the French public radio.
Although Brussels He insists that these imports will not put local agriculture at risk, the affected European sectors indicate that this pact will mean a destabilization of the guild, the fall in prices, and a great unfair competition due to the Minor production standards in terms of health and environmental protection in producing countries.
“For the third consecutive year, I have gone through serious economic difficulties. Production continues to rise and sales prices go down, but we still have to sell our products because they are perishable. We are losing money,” lamented a young farmer present in the manifestation of Versailles.
The feeling of impotence and suffocation queen among farmers who call this agreement and the “Hypocritical” government, for talking about ecology and then importing products that do not comply with those imposed rules. The union has already announced that the actions will be maintained until French farmers are heard. It is expected that on October 14, the peasants travel with their tractors to Paris to continue the protests.
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