The agricultural crisis is coming to Brussels
The blockades of farmers are not weakening in France while Emmanuel Macron goes to Brussels where the European agricultural crisis is present on the sidelines of a summit of the Twenty-Seven.
The French president is due to meet before 10 a.m. this Thursday with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, about the “future of European agriculture”announced the Elysée, before this extraordinary European Summit devoted to the budget of the European Union (EU) and the aid to be provided to Ukraine.
Several hundred tractors are expected to converge in Brussels. The main Italian agricultural union confederation, Coldiretti, announced that it would go there with a thousand of its members to denounce “the madness that threatens agriculture”. On Wednesday evening, French and Belgian farmers blocked « ensemble » a point on the border, denouncing “distortion of competition” ratified by free trade agreements, and demanding “very strong announcements” THURSDAY.
Faced with discontent, the European Commission proposed granting an exemption for 2024 ” partial “ fallow obligations imposed by the common agricultural policy and envisages a mechanism limiting imports from Ukraine (poultry, eggs and sugar). If Paris was pleased that Brussels had “responded to France’s requests”the exemption occurs ” tardily “ and the measures on imports remain “insufficient”regretted Copa-Cogeca, the organization of the majority agricultural unions in the EU.
“Twenty-nine active substances (fungicides, insecticides, herbicides) still usable in Ukraine are banned in the European Union”recalled the General Confederation of Beet Planters on Wednesday, worried to see “massive imports” sugar “continue: 700,000 tonnes for the current campaign compared to 20,000 tonnes before the war”.
European policy too complex, incomes too low, inflation, foreign competition, accumulation of standards, soaring fuel prices: the same demands are found in most European countries. And another subject of friction remains unresolved in Brussels: the Commission is currently negotiating a free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay) which worries the agricultural sector and which Paris does not want. Current state.