In an interview with European newspapers, the French president called for safeguards, an agricultural protection mechanism approved this Tuesday (10) by the European Parliament
French President Emmanuel Macron classified the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur as a “bad, old and poorly negotiated agreement”. In an interview published this Tuesday (10) by several European newspapers — including Le Monde, El País, The Economist and Süddeutsche Zeitung —, the president criticized the current terms of the negotiation.
“I defend fair agreements and, therefore, agreements that have safeguards and that respect the climate while achieving what we want for the economy,” Macron told the media.
In a week that will be marked by meetings of European leaders on competitiveness and industrythe French president defended the simplificationo deepening of the EU internal market ea diversification of trade agreements. Macron called for the protection of European industry through a “European preference” in strategic sectors such as clean technologies, chemicals, steel, automobiles or defense. “Otherwise, the Europeans will be swept away,” he warned.
This Tuesday marked the European Parliament adoption of a safeguard for European farmers against lower price competition from South America. Members of Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, approved a mechanism to restore tariffsif necessary. This safeguard will apply to beef, poultry, eggs and honey, as well as to rice, sugar, ethanol and garlic.
The prerequisite for Commission intervention is that, on average, over the previous three years, import prices from Mercosur countries have decreased by at least 8% or the volume of imports has increased by at least 8%. The Commission then has three months to decide on the temporary reinstatement of tariffs. With this agreement, the EU responds mainly to France’s protests. French farmers have been protesting the agreement for months, fearing, above all, low-priced beef imports. There is also resistance in Poland, Hungary and Romania.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed the agreement in Paraguay in mid-January. Approval by the European Parliament is still pending and is expected to take months, as parliamentarians have referred the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for review. Only after this review will Parliament be able to vote on confirmation.
This is unlikely to greatly alter the effective implementation of the agreement. As soon as one of the Mercosur countries — Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay — approves the agreement, the European Commission will be able to put it into force provisionally. In essence, the treaty eliminates most tariffs and the Commission expects this to increase EU exports to Mercosur countries by up to 39%.
‘US threats are not over’
In addition to trade with the South American bloc, Macron warned that commercial “threats” and “intimidations” from the United States “are not over” and called for a call for a European awakening. He mentioned a “kind of cowardly relief” on the part of European governments when emerging from the “peak of the crisis” of tariffs with Donald Trump.
“Don’t believe for a second that this is over,” he warned. “Look at what’s going to happen with tariffs on pharmaceuticals and everything that’s going to happen. Every day, every week, there will be threats.” According to him, “when there is clear aggression, we should not bend or try to reach an agreement”, as this strategically leads Europe to increase its dependence.
Regarding Russia, Macron said he wanted the resumption of dialogue with Vladimir Putin to happen in a coordinated manner among Europeans and with a limited number of interlocutors. The French president stated that the sending of his diplomatic advisor to Moscow at the beginning of February generated technical contacts that confirmed that “Russia does not want peace now”, although they made it possible to rebuild “channels of dialogue”.
*With information from AFP
