The trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur countries — Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay — has been under negotiation for years. The deal would remove trade barriers for, among other things, agricultural products. At the same time, concern is growing within the EU about the consequences for European farmers, who fear unfair competition and income loss.
France took the lead in a consultation with ten other EU countries, including the Netherlands, Austria, and Poland. During a video meeting, the French Minister for European Affairs called for an automatic protective measure. This measure would intervene when imports from South America suddenly flood the European market in large quantities.
According to France and its supporters, the current safeguard clause in the agreement is too vague and difficult to apply. They therefore advocate for a more concrete and faster-acting emergency measure. This would temporarily allow the European Union to admit fewer certain products if markets are disrupted or farmers are disproportionately affected. A similar arrangement is also used in the expanded trade rules for Ukraine.
In addition to this emergency brake, there has also been a previous proposal for compensation for European farmers who would suffer severe income losses due to the trade agreement. The idea is that farmers who are disproportionately affected would be entitled to compensation. How exactly this would be arranged has not yet been worked out.
The European Commission emphasizes the advantages of the agreement. According to Brussels, the deal would provide more export opportunities for European companies. Moreover, it would help strengthen economic ties with South America, especially now that trade relations with the US are under pressure due to new American import tariffs.
Meanwhile, protests by farmers in various EU countries continue. In countries including France, Belgium, and Bulgaria, farmers recently took to the streets again to protest the agreement.
Negotiations on the Mercosur agreement are in a sensitive phase. The chances of an agreement depend in part on the willingness to build in additional safeguards. The call by France and the other countries for an emergency brake and damage compensation will only have a chance of success if those countries manage to form a sufficiently blocking minority.