Opposition to the Mercosur trade agreement is apparently growing. In addition to France and Austria, the governments of Italy and Poland are now also extremely sceptical.
“Poland will not support this agreement – this is the resolution we want to adopt in the government,” Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, defense minister and leader of the Peasant Party, which is part of the ruling coalition, said on Friday.
Biggest critic of the French government
Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski also reiterated his negative position on the Mercosur Treaty on the sidelines of a meeting with his French counterpart Annie Genevard in Warsaw. France in particular strongly rejects the free trade agreement due to the concerns of French farmers and is currently organizing resistance against it. President Emmanuel Macron has stated that he does not want to sign the agreement.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani said in Rome this week that Italy still has concerns, especially about agriculture. However, he still thought it was possible that an agreement could be reached by the end of the year.
Discussions about the agreement have been going on for 25 years and an agreement has been in place since 2019, but it has not yet been ratified. In addition to the concerns of European farmers, critics also cite the continued deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. However, according to information from Brussels, it is conceivable that the agreement could be signed in early December at the summit of the Mercosur states of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
