France's economy minister, on Thursday, November 14, said his government was doing everything it could to block the adoption of a trade pact between the European Union and four South American countries.
French farmers have protested against the trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc, and Paris is leading resistance against ratification of the deal, which would create the world's largest free trade zone.
"We are employing all means, including institutional and voting at the European level, to ensure that [the] Mercosur [deal] is not adopted in its current form," Minister Antoine Armand told the broadcaster SudRadio. France is seeking to "persuade" its partners, "who sometimes hesitate," to halt the agreement, he said.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Michel Barnier had already told EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen that "this deal is unacceptable for France."
The blockbuster trade pact between the 27-country EU bloc and the Mercosur nations – Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay – has been 25 years in the making. The contours of a deal were agreed in 2019, but some EU states blocked its ratification over environmental concerns.
Chief opponent France is still trying to stop it in its tracks – with angry farmers staging fresh protests on Wednesday, in both Paris and Brussels, against an agreement that they fear would flood the European bloc with cheaper agricultural products.
However, EU officials have cited a real push within the commission – which handles trade policy on behalf of member states – to force a Mercosur deal over the line, with or without France.