While the FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs (JA) have been fighting for years against the accumulation of free trade agreements, such as the Mercosur-EU agreement, in the name of food sovereignty and against unfair competition, the two unions welcome the announcement of the French Government to oppose this agreement.

Before a possible vote in the Council of the European Union, a Commission of independent experts carried out a full evaluation of the draft trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, as had been done for CETA, and has just presented its report to the Prime Minister.

JA and FNSEA denounced the conclusion of the negotiations as soon as they were published in June 2019. We are therefore comforted by the Ambec report, which confirms that the huge difference in terms of production standards would lead to unfair competition for certain key sectors of European production. The conclusion is simple, the importation of agricultural products from Mercosur would endanger the viability of entire sectors of French agriculture.

Of course, the deforestation challenges highlighted in the report are important, but they should not obscure the specific problems of agriculture, such as health concerns, greenhouse gas emissions or traceability if the economic performance of the South American agricultural systems are real. However, they are considerably less sustainable than those of French agriculture

Therefore, we welcome the French Government's "no" to the draft agreement with Mercosur. Beyond this position that we expected, it is the very concept of free trade agreements that must be revised to promote regulated trade, differential treatment of the agricultural sector and allow all the countries of the world food sovereignty.

The FNSEA and JA welcome the evolution of the European Commission in favor of "Open Strategic Autonomy". Now it remains to implement it for a sector as strategic as our agriculture and our food, as the CoVid19 crisis brutally recalled.