The trade agreement under negotiation between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) is the subject of surprising unanimity among the French political establishment. No fewer than 622 French MPs from all political persuasions have endorsed the initiative of Yannick Jadot (Green senator from Paris) to write to the Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to express their opposition to the text.
Curiously, however, the majority of other member states, who are also concerned about agriculture and the environment, seem ready to approve the text once it has been finalized. There’s something odd, then, about such hostile unanimity in France. Let’s take a look at the arguments put forward by French political leaders.
Most speeches stick to this summary: “I want to protect French agriculture and the environment, so I’m against this free trade agreement.”
Let’s try to analyze this position.
The underlying idea is that this agreement is certainly favorable to French industry, for the service sector and for access to public procurement markets, but unfavorable to its agriculture. In a country where industry and services account for 97% of gross domestic product (GDP) – and exports – it’s strange that neither the political leaders promoting reindustrialization nor the industrialists who currently face heavy taxes to export to Brazil are promoting this agreement.
Three sensitive sectors
Even within the agricultural and agrifood sector, some will benefit from this agreement, just as they have already benefited from CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) with Canada: dairy products, wines and spirits, products covered by indications of origin which would finally be protected, etc. Why aren’t these sectors speaking out? Are they ashamed of their successes?
In reality, there are three sensitive sectors: livestock, cereal and sugar. The agreement specifically provides for tariff quotas on each of these three sectors. Their importance is put forward as a deal-breaker, in particular the oft-quoted 99,000 tons of beef. But while these volumes may seem enormous, they represent around 1% of the European market (1.4% for poultry; 1.1% for sugar). You can’t destabilize a market with 1% of additional imports.
Then we hear that it’s the accumulation of trade agreements that is impacting agriculture: “CETA, then Mercosur, that’s too much.”
Despite the dire warnings, CETA has had no negative impact on the sensitive sectors mentioned above. And in any case, the total quotas on “sensitive products” that the Commission can negotiate in past, present and future agreements are capped at 4% of European consumption. So the problem lies elsewhere.
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