French lawmakers on Thursday adopted a non-binding resolution urging the government to oppose the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement in its current form.
The text, tabled by the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI), passed by 244 votes to 1 in a near-unanimous rebuke of the deal, calling on President Macron to oppose the pact at the European Council.
Under the proposed trade agreement, finalized at the end of 2024 after decades of negotiation, the EU would benefit from expanded access for exports such as cars, machinery, wine, and other goods to Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay. In return, meat, sugar, honey, poultry, and other agricultural products would enter Europe with reduced tariffs.
French farming unions have long opposed the deal, warning that cheaper imports produced under looser standards, to which European farmers are bound by, would undercut domestic producers. There have long been protests from the agricultural sector against the draft agreement, and demonstrations continued on Wednesday evening when dozens of farmers blockaded the Tancarville Bridge toll station in Normandy, according to Le Figaro.
Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said in early November that France would not “sign an agreement” that would “condemn” its farmers, a stance she repeated while noting that several member states — including Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Hungary — share Paris’s concerns. But lawmakers across party lines warned that President Emmanuel Macron, who once called the accord “unacceptable,” appears more open to it ahead of an expected European-level vote on Dec. 19.
Thursday’s debate was initiated by La France Insoumise during a day in which the opposition group took control of the parliamentary agenda. LFI rapporteur Matthias Tavel accused the French president of backtracking on his remarks.
“Less than a year ago, Emmanuel Macron called this agreement unacceptable, a bad text. And now, here he is declaring that it’s all a step in the right direction. Yet, not a single line of the agreement has been changed,” he said. Tavel went on to denounce what he called an “agricultural and health tipping point.”
Socialist MP Mélanie Thomin warned that if the deal proceeds, the government will be responsible “for the massive reintroduction of unauthorized products into food: growth hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides banned within the European Union.” National Rally deputy Julien Limongi branded the proposal “institutionalized dumping, a weapon of mass destruction against our agriculture,” calling it “a stab in the back, a betrayal.”
Julien Dive, of the center-right Les Républicains, urged Macron not to “sign the death warrant for French agriculture.” Only the governing party led by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal abstained.
Responding for the government, Minister for Europe Benjamin Haddad rejected claims of inconsistency, saying, “France’s position has always been consistent” and that “the agreement reached is not acceptable as it stands.”
He added that amendments to the agreement are being discussed in Brussels, but that improvements are still insufficient. “It’s not enough,” he said, calling for “a detailed plan” from the European Commission to address legitimate concerns.
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