why France fears Argentine products

After months of "invasion" with their demonstrations every Saturday in the streets of Paris, it seems that these days the yellow jackets have become secondary in the flagship programs of French television.

The new star is starting to be the recently concluded agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur, a number that makes daily newspaper headlines selling the light city's kiosks, such as The World and Le Parisien.

In return for the enthusiasm with which the government of President Mauricio Macri lives, the signing of the pact – which, if it materialized, would be implemented only after 2021 – in the Gallic country, the new put the war on ecologists and entrepreneurs in the agrarian sector, but also on the press and ordinary citizens.

The French newspaper L & # 39; Express has clearly indicated this week under the title: "Meats, standards, why does the EU-Mercosur agreement bother them all?"

As was the case for Macri, his colleague Emmanuel Macron had to explain to the most agitated sectors the consequences of integration with a trade bloc that they consider a potential threat.

The truth is that today, Mercosur in general and Argentina in particular have become a recurring theme in French speeches. As in a mirror of what is happening in Buenos Aires, where expresses the fear of unemployment that can generate mbadive income from European products, the main fears of the French regarding southern agricultural production can generate an earthquake in the country. # 39; s economy.

"A conquest for Buenos Aires"

It is rare that one Argentine thinks that in Europe the country may be perceived as a conqueror who arrives on a northern market with a predatory ability.

But a review of French media allows us to see the degree of anxiety with which the news of the trade agreement is lived. Especially for the hypersensitive French agricultural sector, a traditional beneficiary of state subsidies and very resistant to extrazone competition.

This week, the uninterrupted news channel CNews – which is leading the national audience indexes – raised this issue in these terms: "The agreement with Mercosur is bad for our agriculture."

In addition, the prestigious Le Figaro has alerted the population, saying that "European farmers and ranchers could be the big losers from the opening of the European market to beef, poultry and South American sugar".

The Parisian Humanity also mentioned the subject as a "conquest of Buenos Aires", adding that "74% of the phytosanitary products used in Brazil are prohibited in Europe".

This week, the demonstrations on French soil had as protagonists including Young Farmers and the main agricultural guild FNSA. In turn, the National Federation of Cattle (FNB) badured that the signing of the agreement would result in more than 50,000 jobs in this country.

But not only the cattle lobby complains. In the Paris coffee negotiations, the new agreement with the South American organization is a subject that does not go unnoticed either, in a context in which the environmental boom generates more and more followers – It should be remembered that, during the last general elections of the European Union, the ecologist party was the third most voted force, behind the macronista oficialismo and the reference of extreme right, Marine Le Pen-.

As far as the agreement is concerned, it means not only that it will hurt the local agricultural sector, but also for French citizens because of the quality of the products that would enter Europe thanks to the agreement reached.

Fear of the meat entrance

Interestingly, and despite the "boom" of Argentine grills in the city of Paris, it is possible to find a range of options to taste typical dishes such as empanadas with meat and roast meat, one of Major distrust factors the French towards the pact with Mercosur have to do with the fear of locals for the entry of meat from South America.

The agreement provides for the arrival of a total of 99,000 tons of cuts of beef – 45% fresh and 55% frozen. In this line, French MP Adrien Quatennens said that "the treaty with Mercosur, in particular, concerns the import and export of astronomical amounts of meat".

And, as often happens in these cases, some of the claims relate not only to maintaining tariff barriers, but also to stricter enforcement of sanitary regulations that could actually reduce trade flow.

The fear that reigns in the French national imagination about the possibility that, through bilateral negotiations, Argentina "contaminates" the delicate French cuisine with products of mediocre quality and lacking the existing controls for years and latent in some works literary.

An example is presented in "Serotonina", the latest novel by the famous writer Michel Houellebecq. One of the characters alludes to the possible arrival of food of Argentine origin on the Old Continent. "These bastards were literally invading Europe with their products, and they had no restrictive transgenic legislation," he anticipated furiously, almost like an omen.

This type of hints in the field of culture is not a minor problem in a country like France. And less when we talk about Houellebecq, a world bestseller who has gained notoriety for his futuristic works in which he proposes scary scenarios for the average French, such as the novel "Submission", in which he describes a future with a president Islamic.

Whatever the case may be, the Mercosur-EU deal provoked a defensive reaction from the French frightened by a change in lifestyle.

"Rarely has an agreement like the one just signed between the EU and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay sparked such opposition, but this could be an opportunity for Europe to apply its standards ", says in a suggestive way an editorial of the newspaper Le Monde.

Other detractors in Europe

Mistrust with respect to the entry of products from the southernmost part of the American continent is not limited to the Gallic country. Elsewhere in Europe, there is also some resistance to the progress of the new transatlantic agreement.

More specifically, in Spain, the Greenpeace body issued a public complaint warning against the possible harmful effects of the pact. "It's devastating for the environment," said the ecologist. His spokesman in Spain, Miguel Ángel Soto, added: "Changing car for beef is not acceptable if the consequences are further deforestation, attacks on indigenous peoples and d & # 39; growing hostility to civil society. "

On the warpath, European ecologists and French farmers became another hurdle for the Macri government when it was necessary to move this deal forward, ahead of the October elections.

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