Mercosur: the Senate in turn supports the government against the free trade agreement

Like the National Assembly the day before, the Senate on Wednesday validated the Government’s position on the draft free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur, which Paris rejects “as is” in the name of defending French farmers.

A rare object of consensus in the political class, this opposition to the treaty with Mercosur in its version negotiated by Brussels was voted almost unanimously in the upper house, with 338 votes out of a total of 348 senators. The day before, the deputies had done the same by a large majority, with the notable exception of the LFI group that demanded the complete abandonment of this draft agreement.

“Unbearable competition”

This double mandate of Parliament “is a strong message that will be heard” in other European countries, celebrated the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, for whom “the dynamic is going in our direction” with Thursday’s demonstration in Poland. another great agricultural power on the continent.

“France does not want the end of trade agreements, nor the end of agricultural trade,” but asks for “serious guarantees for [les] farmers”, who would otherwise find themselves “faced with unbearable competition”, stressed the Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard.

Demand transmitted by the head of the senators LR Mathieu Darnaud, opposed to “an agreement that prioritizes unfair competition in our markets” and judging “inconceivable that this agreement comes into force against the will of France.”

“Essential mirror clauses”

“We must continue negotiating” to obtain “the essential mirror clauses” on health and the environment, said the head of the small Macronist group, François Patriat.

On the contrary, socialist Didier Marie called for “a moratorium on all current trade agreements” and the rejection of Mercosur because “there can be no agreement between junk food and nice cars.”

Faced with this “dinosaur agreement” that has been debated for a quarter of a century, “the French opposition will undoubtedly be a democratic explosion,” predicted environmentalist Yannick Jadot.