France will not support a proposed reform of the European Union’s agricultural policy, with its farmers facing a worsening cattle disease outbreak and renewed tensions over food imports and trade, its government said January 4.
The statement came as Paris announced it would also suspend imports from South America of food products containing residues of substances banned in the EU.
In December, France led the opposition to the EU’s approval of the Mercosur trade deal, as resistance by farmers to the free-trade bloc was and remains strong.
French farming is undergoing a bovine epidemic, and general economic downturn.
Signing of the trade agreement with the South American bloc was meanwhile delayed to January, when an EU-wide reform of agricultural policy is also set to be approved.
France’s Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said the measures against South American imports were intended to protect both French farmers and consumers.
“This is a first step to protect our sectors and our consumers and to fight unfair competition, which is a question of fairness for our farmers,” Lecornu wrote on X.
Un arrêté sera pris dans les prochains jours, à l’initiative de la Ministre de l’agriculture @AnnieGenevard, pour suspendre l’importation de produits contenant des résidus de substances interdites en Europe : mancozèbe, glufosinate, thiophanate-méthyl et carbendazime.
Avocats,…
— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) January 4, 2026
French resistance was manifest in a large farmers’ protest in Brussels in mid-December, where French farmers made up the majority of demonstrators opposing the Mercosur deal and planned changes to EU farming policy.
Across France, protests against the Mercosur, changes to agricultural budgets, and the handling of the bovine epidemic were already continuing and multiplying at the start of January.
The prime minister is set to meet representatives of France’s main farming unions on January 5 and 6, after publishing an open letter addressed to farmers outlining the government’s position.
Lettre ouverte aux agriculteurs de France.@AnnieGenevard @SergePapin_rf @jnbarrot @AdeMontchalin @benjaminhaddad @N_Forissier pic.twitter.com/ft28jSygrD
— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) January 4, 2026
The move follows a substantial farmers’ protest held in mid-December outside the European Parliament in Brussels.
Thousands of farmers gathered to show their opposition to the EU–Mercosur trade deal and plans to change how the EU funds agriculture, including possible budget cuts and a shift toward national control of funding.
Anger among farmers has remained strong since, as new cases of a contagious cattle disease have emerged and votes approach on the EU’s next agricultural policy and the Mercosur treaty.
The Brussels protest took place on the same day EU leaders were expected to approve the Mercosur deal, only days before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was due to travel to Brazil to sign the agreement.
That trip was postponed when Italy joined France in asking for stronger safeguards.
Brazil had initially urged EU countries to approve the deal quickly.
It later accepted the possibility of a delay after the scale of the protests, in an effort to win over opposing member states.
French farmers had been protesting even before the large Brussels demonstration over how EU authorities handled outbreaks of bovine nodular disease, a viral illness first detected in France in the summer of 2025.
The disease affects cattle health and can cause significant financial losses for farmers.
Under EU rules, detection of a single case requires the entire herd to be slaughtered, a measure some farming unions criticise as excessive.
In response, the French government launched a large vaccination campaign and promised compensation for affected farmers. Tensions between the government and farmers have nonetheless continued.
Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said farmers had dealt with serious animal health crises for months, particularly due to the cattle disease.
She said vaccination was rolled out rapidly, beginning in June in eastern French regions and expanding to the south in December.
She also said the government would fully guarantee EU agricultural funding that supports farmers’ incomes, and announced a ban on food imports containing residues of substances prohibited in the EU. “We can no longer accept this injustice toward our farmers,” she wrote.
Depuis plusieurs mois, nos éleveurs sont confrontés à des crises sanitaires d’ampleur, en particulier la dermatose nodulaire bovine.
Je veux le redire ici, nous avons déployé la vaccination dans un temps record, dès le mois de juin dans les Savoies et depuis décembre en… pic.twitter.com/o2irYydMbL
— Annie Genevard (@AnnieGenevard) January 4, 2026
Several EU countries that support the Mercosur deal, led by Germany, have warned further delays could put the agreement at risk.
They fear of prolonged stalling could increase opposition in the European Parliament or complicate negotiations when Paraguay, which is sceptical of the deal, takes over the Mercosur presidency from Brazil later this year.
However, with France now joined by Italy, Hungary and Poland in opposition, critics of the deal still have enough support among EU governments to block it if it were put to a vote.
On the night of the Brussels protest, EU institutions approved an additional safeguard allowing tariffs to be reintroduced if poultry or beef imports from Latin America disrupt European markets.
