Poland intends to join forces with France and Italy to block a trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, which has been in the works for a quarter of a century.
French Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard will meet her Polish counterpart in Warsaw in the coming days to “compare their lists of objections” to the agreement, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Tuesday (19). The trade pact was an important element of recent bilateral talks with Paris, he added.
“Perhaps then we will reach a joint position with France and Italy, which would be a sufficient blocking minority” for the deal, Sikorski told reporters in Warsaw.
The long-delayed Mercosur trade pact, comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, was agreed in principle in 2019 but has since been delayed mainly by French objections.
READ MORE: France allies with Poland in the European Union to block agreement with Mercosur
On Monday, Genevard told France Bleu Besancon radio that the country is contacting other EU states, including the Netherlands, Italy and Poland, to try to form a “veto minority” to block the deal “which is not a good agreement and which crystallizes the deep discontent of farmers”.
Poland has a history of protecting its agricultural sector from foreign competition. Last year, the previous government imposed a unilateral ban on grain imports from Ukraine, triggering a diplomatic conflict with Kiev. Polish farmers organized a conference in front of the Polish parliament today to express their disagreement with the Mercosur agreement and said that if the government spoke out in favor of the pact, they would organize protests across the country.
In France, farmers and meat and poultry producers are demanding guarantees that their Latin American rivals comply with EU health and environmental standards — including for the use of antibiotics and pesticides — which are stricter.
The country’s main agricultural unions, facing poor harvests due to bad weather, have given the new government until mid-November to meet their demands – which include protecting intra-European trade from cheaper competition.
Mercosur producers are currently the EU’s biggest suppliers of beef and poultry, and a possible deal would significantly increase those volumes, harming local producers, the unions said in a statement last week.
