Ambassadors to the EU from its 27 member countries approved the Mercosur-EU trade deal with a majority vote on the morning of Jan. 9. After the vote, European governments can be divided between those that care for their farmers and those that don’t. The former include France, Poland, Ireland, Hungary, and Austria; the latter includes everyone else. The European Parliament shall now ratify the agreement.
With Paris besieged by tractors, Macron had announced this morning that France would vote against the Mercosur agreement, maybe knowing that it would lose the vote anyway, so why not make a bella figura.
In the morning of Jan. 9, about 100 tractors had broken the police containment and reached strategic places in Paris, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc of Triumph.
Italy voted Yes, after the remaining demand from Rome, that the threshold to block imports be lowered from 8% to 5%, was accepted by the Commission (i.e., if agricultural prices fall more than 5%). Farmers, however, won’t accept this, because they are already producing at a loss. Adding a 5% loss is obviously no solution.
Farmers are mobilizing throughout Europe. In Milan, over 300 tractors marched on the building of the Lombardy regional administration on Jan. 9 in the morning. The protest was organized by COAPI (Coordinamento Agricoltori e Pescatori Italiani; Coordination of Italian Farmers and Fishermen). COAPI has invited all citizens to join the farmer protest, which has four demands: No to Mercosur; No to deregulation of the PAC; Yes to food safety; Yes to a just price for agricultural products. Farmers poured tonnes of milk on the square, which can be seen on the COAPI Facebook page.
Decentralized protests occurred in several states of Germany: In Brandenburg, farmers used their tractors to block several access roads to the highway northwest of Berlin and the highway in the northwest of the state, among others. Authorities also reported isolated actions in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia, as well as in Lower Saxony. On Monday, Jan. 12, the Grüne Woche in Berlin and a large demonstration organized by the “We Have Had Enough” organization will begin. The demonstration will take place on Jan. 17 in front of the Brandenburger Tor. Some 60 agricultural and citizens organizations will participate.
Greek farmers are continuing their roadblocks, while next week farm leaders will meet with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Farmers will be holding a nationwide coordinating meeting over the weekend. They are demanding action on rising production costs, delayed subsidy payments, and other grievances.
