The signing of a trade deal between the European Union and South American bloc Mercosur will be postponed to January, officials said, after farmers staged a show of force against the pact.
Mercosur nations were notified of the move yesterday evening, AFP reported, which came after EU plans to seal the pact were upended by heavyweights France and Italy demanding a delay, a European Commission spokeswoman said.
That came after thousands of farmers flooded the Belgian capital – rolling around 1,000 honking tractors into the city – as the deal loomed large over the European leaders’ gathering. In France, agriculture workers also staged road-blocking demonstrations
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), though, issued a statement after the announcement, saying it regrets the decision.
“At a time of intense global competition, supply chain pressures and geo-political tension, European automotive OEMs look at trade agreements like Mercosur as instrumental in the race for competitiveness and resilience,” it said.
“The Mercosur deal would contribute to a significant increase in vehicles exports to the region, due to the removal of tariffs of up to 35 per cent and by addressing technical barriers to trade.
“Additionally, it would provide the automotive industry with an opportunity to secure diversified supply chains for key critical raw materials,” the statement read.
Greenpeace also issued a press release, in which it praised the postponement decision.
The NGO’s EU campaigner Lis Cunha said: “After more than 25 years of trying to force through an unsustainable and unfair trade agreement with Mercosur, it’s time for EU leaders to face the inescapable truth: It’s never going to happen.
“At this point, the Commission has failed so many times that it’s starting to feel like they must take their instructions from Samuel Beckett: Try again, fail again, fail better.
“But not even a postmodern playwright could make sense of the fundamental contradictions of this environmentally-damaging deal,” she said.
“EU and Mercosur leaders must reject this toxic agreement and work instead to develop a truly sustainable and balanced relationship.”
Having initially reacted with a now-or-never ultimatum to its EU partners, Brazil opened the door yesterday to delaying the deal’s signature to allow time to win over the holdouts, France 24 reported.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had asked him for “patience” and had indicated that Italy would eventually be ready for the agreement.
The EU-Mercosur deal would create the world’s biggest free-trade area and help the 27-nation bloc to export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America at a time of global trade tensions, according to AFP.
But Paris and Rome want more robust protections for their farmers, who fear being undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbours.
Key power Germany, as well as Spain and the Nordic countries, meanwhile, strongly support the Mercosur pact, eager to boost exports as Europe grapples with Chinese competition and a tariff-happy administration in the White House.
But farmers say it would also facilitate the entry into Europe of beef, sugar, rice, honey and soyabeans produced by their less-regulated South American counterparts.
Tensions boiled over in Brussels after a mostly peaceful protest involving at least 7,000 farmers.
Rowdy scenes erupted outside the European Parliament, where protesters lit fires, set off fireworks and hurled potatoes, bottles and other objects at the police who responded with tear gas and water cannon.
“We’re here to say no to Mercosur,” Belgian dairy farmer Maxime Mabille told AFP, accusing European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of seeking to “force the deal through”.
Farmers are also incensed at EU plans to overhaul the 27-nation bloc’s huge farming subsidies, fearing less money will flow their way.
In Brussels, police charged several times to clear the area of protesters. Minor scuffles ensued and at least a handful of people were arrested, an AFP reporter saw.
“It’s not fair,” Luis, a 24-year-old cattle farmer from Belgium’s French-speaking south who did not want to give his full name, said of the Mercosur deal.
“They are going to export cheap meat that is going to lower our prices,” he said, adding that South American farmers used cheap feed as well as hormones banned in principle under the deal but in practice hard to detect.
Von der Leyen had hoped to win a final approval from member states in time to fly to Brazil for a signing ceremony tomorrow.
But with Paris, Rome, Hungary and Poland in opposition, the deal’s critics had enough clout within the European Council to shoot down the deal, were it to be put to a vote.
Italy and France both want tougher safeguard clauses, tighter import controls and more stringent standards for Mercosur producers.
“We are not there yet, and the deal cannot be signed,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters yesterday.
Rome said it was “ready to sign the agreement as soon as farmers are given the necessary answers, which depend on the decisions of the European Commission and can be defined in a short period of time”.
