Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva began his state visit to France Thursday, where the centre-left leader is expected to discuss French President Emmanuel Macron's public reservations about the planned European Union trade agreement with South American bloc Mercosur and broader geopolitical tensions around the war in Ukraine.
Lula said on Tuesday he would discuss the EU-Mercosur deal with Macron, a strong critic of the agreement in its current form.
The deal between Brussels and Mercosur bloc members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay was announced as a "win-win" by EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in December but is facing stiff opposition from France and agricultural groups.
The deal still needs to be approved by at least 15 of the European Union's 27 member nations representing a minimum of 65 percent of the EU population.
In a meeting with members of parliament Wednesday, French farmers' groups urged Macron to rally enough partners to form a blocking minority against the Mercosur deal, which they say would be devastating for the beef, poultry and sugar industries and compromise the EU's ambitions in terms of food sovereignty.
"It would be a real tragedy for our industry," Alain Carré, head of French sugar industry group AIBS said. "We're sounding the alarm."
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French farmers held nationwide protests last year over low incomes, rising costs, and competition from cheap imports, particularly from Ukraine and Mercosur countries, demanding fairer trade terms and lighter regulation.
"Our demands (for an EU-Mercosur agreement) are simple: reciprocity of rules, traceability abroad and much clearer labelling," Jean-Michel Schaeffer, head of French poultry industry group Anvol, said.
Meanwhile, a few hundred farmers protested in Madrid against cheap grain imports from Ukraine and other countries, saying prices have fallen below production costs.
Spanish farmers are likely to lose 1 billion euros this year, said Javier Fatas, a leader of farmers union COAG from the Aragon region in northeastern Spain.
'The deal aims to create one of the largest free-trade zones in the world'
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"This happens because of trade deals signed by Spain and the EU as part of geopolitics, bringing us prices too low to sustain our farms," Fatas said.
He warned that genetically modified grains from Mercosur also created unfair competition, echoing French farmers' concerns.
Wednesday's protest was peaceful, but only the beginning, he added.
"Bad times are coming."
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)
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