{"id":679496,"date":"2026-01-07T08:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T08:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/679496\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T08:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T08:16:14","slug":"eu-offers-farmers-extra-funds-to-quell-anger-over-mercosur-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/679496\/","title":{"rendered":"EU offers farmers extra funds to quell anger over Mercosur deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Commission<\/a> said Tuesday it plans to tweak its budget proposal for 2028-2034, which has come under fire from agricultural groups, to allow farmers early access to around 45 billion euros.<\/p>\n

The move comes amid a push to ease the qualms of some countries over the Mercosur deal that Brussels hopes to ink\u00a0on 12 January in\u00a0Paraguay<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was welcomed by Italy, which holds the deciding vote on the accord.<\/p>\n

“This is a positive and significant step forward in the negotiations that will lead to the new EU budget,” said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.<\/p>\n

More than 25 years in the making, the Mercosur deal would create the world’s biggest free-trade area<\/a>, boosting trade between the 27-nation EU and the bloc comprising Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.<\/p>\n

But it has alarmed many European farmers who fear they will be undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil<\/a> and its neighbours.<\/p>\n

Thousands protested in Brussels last month, venting their anger also at EU plans to overhaul its system of farm subsidies, which critics say would result in farmers receiving less money.<\/p>\n

Farmers descend on Brussels to protest EU Mercosur trade deal<\/a><\/p>\n

Extraordinary meeting<\/p>\n

In a letter Tuesday, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> unveiled budget changes she said would “provide the farmers and rural communities with an unprecedented level of support”.<\/p>\n

The letter was released as EU agriculture<\/a> ministers are due to gather in Brussels on Wednesday for an extraordinary meeting to try to get the Mercosur deal over the line.<\/p>\n

Member states are expected to then vote on the text on Friday, which the commission hopes will clear the way for its signature.<\/p>\n

Plans to seal the accord in December ran into a late roadblock as heavyweights Italy and France<\/a> demanded a postponement over concerns for the farming sector.<\/p>\n

Germany and Spain are strongly in favour of the agreement, believing it will provide a welcome boost to their industries, hampered by Chinese competition and tariffs in the United States.<\/p>\n

Trump’s tariffs come into force, upending economic ties with Europe<\/a><\/p>\n

The deal would help the EU export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America at a time of global trade tensions.<\/p>\n

In return, it would facilitate the entry into Europe of South American meat, sugar, rice, honey and soybeans.<\/p>\n

(with AFP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Commission said Tuesday it plans to tweak its budget proposal for 2028-2034, which has come under…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[206166,206167,2000,299,5187,2557,195869,49254,22708],"class_list":{"0":"post-679496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-agricultural-groups","9":"tag-budget-proposal","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-commission","14":"tag-european-farmers","15":"tag-italian-prime-minister","16":"tag-mercosur"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115852829210968296","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}