European farmers bring chaos to Brussels over trade fears

European farmers brought chaos to the streets of Brussels on Thursday (18 December), with fire, manure and vegetables targeted at EU buildings where key talks on future trade deals were taking place.

Organised by EU farmer and co-operative group Copa-Cogeca, an estimated 10,000 farmers from 27 countries descended on the Belgian capital, with smoke, flares and tear gas in abundance.

See also: Irish farm leader drives tractor to Brussels for mass demo

© Bob Reijnders/Zuma/PressWire/Shutterstock

The protest was focused on three key themes – avoiding trade deals that could undermine EU markets, securing more cash for farm support, and simplification of the bureaucratic CAP.

It was the first of these that drew most attention, as EU heads of state discussed plans to finalise a free-trade deal with four South American countries – the so-called Mercosur deal.

© Bob Reijnders/Zuma/PressWire/Shutterstock

Threat to members

EU farm groups have long complained that this poses a substantial threat to their members, pointing to lower standards and cheaper production costs in South America.

The recent discovery of Brazilian beef containing illegal hormones in the EU supply chain has heightened tensions, as has an investigation by the Irish Farmers Association, which unearthed poor traceability in Brazil.

In an effort to address these concerns, the European Parliament and EU Council agreed a compromise on Wednesday (17 December) to protect EU agriculture once an EU-Mercosur agreement is in place.

This would enable the EU Commission to suspend tariff preferences for certain “sensitive” products, such as beef and poultrymeat, should imports be seen to be harming EU markets.

This would be triggered if either volumes increased or prices decreased by more than 8% compared with the three-year average, with an assessment made every six months.

© Bob Reijnders/Zuma/PressWire/Shutterstock

Insufficient safeguards

This did little to appease the farmers in Brussels on Thursday.

“The safeguards remain insufficient to prevent market disruption, fail to ensure a genuine level playing field in light of divergent production standards, and do not offer credible guarantees to EU farmers and manufacturers already operating under much stricter regulatory and economic constraints,” said a Copa-Cogeca spokesman.

With such ongoing disquiet, it is understood that plans for EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel to Brazil to sign off the Mercosur deal on Saturday (20 December) have been put on hold until the new year.

News service Politico reports that Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni had requested more time to convince her farmers that the safeguards for sensitive farm products would be robust.