Supermarkets in France refuse to sell Mercosur products in rejection of the trade agreement

The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will sign the free trade agreement with Mercosur on Saturday, January 17. Does this mean that meat produced in South America will reach European supermarkets? Not necessarily, announce the largest food distribution chains, which refuse to sell these products.

“No, we will not do it. It is a firm commitment. Last week I was on the board of directors of the FCD, which is the large distribution union. Carrefour, Systemu and Leclerc will have the same position,” announced on Monday Thierry Cotillard, president of the “Les mousquetaires” group (Intermarché and Netto supermarkets).

“This is very important because, once Mercosur is approved, we will all have our share of responsibility, especially those who buy. And with regard to large-scale distribution, it represents 40% of the markets. I can assure you that we can reassure farmers that we will not buy these products abroad,” he added in statements to FranceInfo radio.

French farmers are the ones who have protested the most against this agreement, as they believe that they will lose markets.

In the same sense, the general director of Carrefour, Alexandre Bompard, estimated that “the adoption of the agreement with Mercosur will have a fairly limited impact.”

“The decision of the Carrefour group and its counterparts is to supply almost exclusively, or even exclusively, with French products,” he said. He added that “100% of the poultry is French, 97% of the beef is French and 100% of the pork is French.” And he remarked: “There will be no changes,” he stressed.

European agricultural producers are concerned about the future reduction of tariffs on agricultural products implied by this agreement between the EU and the four full members of the Southern Common Market: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

European farmers denounce the presence in imports of pesticides prohibited in the EU, which, in his opinion, constitutes “unfair competition”.

Faced with these criticisms, the European Commission committed to legislating on pesticide residues and announced last Wednesday the total ban of three substances: thiophanate-methyl, carbendazim and benomyl, especially in citrus fruits, mangoes and papayas.

The EU also promised to strengthen its controls to ensure that agricultural imports respect European standards.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, announced a 50% increase in the number of checks carried out outside its territory within two years.

In this context, around 350 tractors entered Paris at dawn on Tuesday for a new day of agricultural mobilization, in order to demand “concrete and immediate measures” from the French government.