“We want France to block this agreement,” said cattle farmer Patrick Bénézit, vice president of FNSEA, slamming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for sealing the deal and the French government for not opposing it.
“We know how she [von der Leyen] functions, nothing surprises us anymore: What surprises us is the lack of political response, particularly from governments,” he added.
In a statement to POLITICO on Wednesday, Trade Minister Nicolas Forissier said “the EU–Australia agreement is a balanced and demanding partnership” and announced he would travel to Australia at the end of April with a delegation of French small businesses.
His comment breaks the silence of the French government on the trade deal, which von der Leyen signed in Canberra on Tuesday.
“We are killing European agriculture,” said Manon Aubry, an MEP from Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left France Unbowed Party, calling the deal “a scandal” and announcing she would explore all tools to stop it, including an action before the Court of Justice of the EU.
Familiar fights
The impact of the deal, which would gradually allow 30,600 metric tons of Australian beef into Europe each year, up from the current 3,389 tons, will likely be smaller than that of the Mercosur pact. Until now it has largely been below the radar of France’s trade-skeptic public opinion.