In a statement to the Italian Chamber of Deputies last week, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the signing of the free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur was “still premature”. “It is necessary to wait until the package of additional measures to protect the agricultural sector is perfected and, at the same time, present it and discuss it with our farmers,” Meloni said. She closed ranks against the treaty with French President Emmanuel Macron. The two men took the lead in the barrier erected during the summit of the 27 EU members in Brussels, which should have approved the document in time for it to be signed yesterday, in Foz do Iguaçu (PR), at the Mercosur summit. Without the approval of the European Council, the agreement was not reached. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said a new date would be set in January.
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Today, negotiations have been continuing since 1999. The announced treaty can be described as anything but premature. The final text was finalized in December 2024, meeting all European demands regarding the conditions agreed since 2019. The withdrawal movement simply reflects a new attempt by European protectionists to torpedo any treaty. On Tuesday, when the European Parliament approved the deal, it included new restrictions, allowing imports to be banned if the price of South American products falls by more than 5% or if the exported volume increases by more than 8%. This constitutes, in practice, a limitation on the benefits that free trade would bring to the European consumer. Designed to quell resistance from opponents within the bloc, the measures had the opposite effect. They helped Meloni undo the signing.
Protectionists are few in number, but so far they have succeeded in preventing approval. The noisiest are in France. There, farm work only brings things down. Today, only 3% of French people are employed in the sector, less than in Spain or Portugal, two countries favorable to the agreement. What differentiates the strength of the French in the countryside is the support they receive in the cities, where agricultural activity is idealized.
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Inefficient and bathed in subsidies, European agro-industry fears competition from Argentinians, Brazilians, Paraguayans and Uruguayans. Created in the 1960s, the European common agricultural policy still absorbs a quarter of the bloc’s budget. Between 2021 and 2027, farmers will receive the legendary sum of 387 billion euros. In the battle to secure subsidies and mobilize public opinion, they use every argument at their disposal. In the past, they even said that agriculture was a tradition that should be preserved. Recently, they again demanded the same environmental and health requirements for Mercosur products as those imposed on European products (a subject already debated ad nauseam). This week, they invaded the streets of Brussels and blocked French roads.
Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, in favor of free trade with Mercosur, failed to break the protectionist blockade. Faced with so much sabotage, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva threatened to abandon negotiations, but backed down after speaking with Meloni. The deal may still be done, but Mercosur would do well to focus its energies on agreements with other regions. If Donald Trump’s tariffs have not served as a lesson to the EU on the need to open new markets, nothing else will.
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