French farmers stepped up their protests on Tuesday against a proposed trade deal between the European Union and four South American countries, blocking a key highway on the border with Spain and vowing to sow “chaos”.
The French government is leading the resistance against ratification of the trade deal with the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which would create the world’s largest free trade zone.
The new wave of action comes after farmers across Europe, including France, staged sustained protests last winter over a long list of charges they say are squeezing incomes.
Dozens of farmers, backed by Coordination Rurale (CR), a hard-line farmers’ union, have set up a roadblock on the A9 highway near the southern town of Le Boulou, close to the border with Spain, blocking trucks but allowing cars to pass, an AFP journalist saw.
“We are going to block the A9, as well as fuel depots, ports and purchasing centers,” said Serge Bousquet-Cassagne, a CR representative in the southwest.
“We want to cause chaos and food shortages,” he said, adding that the blockade could last several days, pointing to “a river of fruits and vegetables arriving from Spain.”
The A9 motorway is a crucial trade route between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe.
In the southwestern city of Agen, demonstrators dumped tires in front of the prefecture.
The FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs (“Young Farmers”), the more moderate unions that together represent most farmers in France, also supported the protests.
Authorities said more than a dozen protests were underway just before noon, bringing together nearly 900 farmers and more than 300 farm equipment.
On Monday, farmers staged more than 80 protests across the country, erecting fake gallows and wooden crosses to symbolize the death of French agriculture.
They also blocked the Bridge of Europe, which connects France and Germany, in protest against the European Commission’s plan to conclude the Mercosur treaty after 20 years of talks.
In Bordeaux, on the banks of the Garonne, several dozen farmers burned uprooted vines on Monday evening.
– ‘Always difficult’ –
The French political class is unusually unanimous in its opposition to the Mercosur deal.
On Tuesday, government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said the government would propose a parliamentary debate, followed by a vote, to “strengthen the position of the president and the prime minister.”
Bregeon said the government will “keep fighting for as long as necessary” with the European Commission to oppose the treaty.
French farmers complain of excessive bureaucracy, low incomes and poor harvests.
They say they waited for authorities to make good on government promises of support before President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the lower house of parliament in the summer, sparking a political crisis.
The proposed Mercosur pact has provoked new anger.
Farmers fear any deal would open European Union markets to cheaper meat and products from South American competitors, who are not forced to adhere to strict EU rules on pesticides, hormones, land use and environmental measures.
Cyriac Blanchet, 18, a third-generation farmer in the southwestern town of Monsegur, said no progress has been made since last winter’s outburst of anger.
“It always gets more complicated, it’s always difficult, I don’t want to do it anymore, it disgusts me,” Blanchet said.
Macron said on Monday that France was not alone in opposing the deal.
“Contrary to popular belief, France is not isolated and several countries are joining us,” Macron said in Brazil, where he was attending a G20 summit.
He said the agreement had been decades in the making and was “based on preconditions that are now outdated.”
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