“France’s worries are notably expressed through the disastrous impacts that this agreement would have for entire sectors, like livestock farming,” Barnier said, highlighting the concerns of French farmers over competition from what they see as cut-price and low-quality Argentinian and Brazilian beef.
President Emmanuel Macron, backed by protesting farmers, stalled progress towards a deal back in January, leading EU leaders to take the issue off the agenda before June’s European election. But with Macron’s liberals battered in both the EU election and national polls that followed, they are pushing once again towards the finish line.
With negotiators looking to wrap up the deal at a Mercosur summit in Uruguay in early December, France is casting around for allies to help it muster a qualified minority — representing 35 percent of the EU population — that would be sufficient to block it when it comes to a vote among the bloc’s 27 member countries.
Barnier declined to say whether France would be able to pull together such a blocking minority, or which countries might support it. But, he added, it would be wrong “to bypass a country like France” in the course of qualified majority voting on the deal.
French farmers plan to stage protests against the Mercosur deal on Monday, when European and South American leaders will be among the participants meeting for a Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.
In a readout of their conversation, Dombrovskis described his conversation with Barnier as “constructive and cordial” and — without going into detail — said they had discussed the Mercosur trade agreement.
Additional reporting by Camille Gijs.