Over 200 Romanian farmers will participate on Tuesday in Strasbourg, France, in protests against the Mercosur Agreement, along with farmers from other European Union member states.
A large farmers' gathering is planned in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on January 20.
"More than 200 farmers from Romania, members of Pro Agro and the Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation, are traveling to Brussels to express their indignation at what the Mercosur agreement on agriculture contains. Along with farmers from all EU states, we will be more than 10,000 farmers in the Parliament Square in Strasbourg," Pro Agro Chairman Ionel Arion told AGERPRES on Monday.
According to him, Romanian farmers will be in Parliament Square until 16:00hrs, and French farmers will protest the following day, as a vote on the agreement in the European Parliament has been postponed until January 21.
"I lead the Romanian group. At 06:00hrs, the plane takes off from Bucharest, at 09:00hrs we land there, and at 10:30hrs the protests begin. Most likely we will be in the square until 16:00hrs, and our French colleagues will also come to the square on January 21, because I understand that they have postponed the vote. They will not cast it tomorrow; they will cast it the day after tomorrow. We will participate only tomorrow, because we did not know that they would postpone, we found out very late. We rented a charter flight that leaves tomorrow, stays there with us and tomorrow evening brings us back," said Arion.
Asked if farmers intend to protest in Romania as well, the chairman of Pro Agro replied: "Depending on the outcome; we will see after the vote, all professional organisations in Romania will gather, most likely at the beginning of next week - because we are waiting to see the answers - we will gather at the beginning of next week and we will decide on the next path of dialogue, whether it still exists or not. Most likely, yes, we will also be faced with the fait accompli of organising protests in Victory Square, in Bucharest."
On January 21, the EP is also scheduled to vote on their request for an opinion from the European Court of Justice on the compatibility of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (EMPA) and the Interim Trade Agreement (ITA) with the European treaties. The vote was initiated by about 150 MEPs who oppose the agreement.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, signed on January 17, in Paraguay, two agreements between the EU and the South American bloc Mercosur, made up of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia.
The two components of the agreement were voted on January 9, in Coreper, with a qualified majority. France, Austria, Ireland and Hungary voted against, while Belgium abstained.
The agreement had been negotiated since 1999 between the European Union and the Mercosur founding countries. Most European states have recently supported it, despite opposition from several countries, including France.
The European Commission, which concluded negotiations a year ago, as well as countries such as Germany and Spain say the deal is a vital part of the EU's efforts to open up new markets to compensate for business losses caused by U.S. tariffs and reduce dependence on China by securing access to critical minerals.
Opponents, led by France, the European Union's largest agricultural producer, say the deal will boost imports of cheap food, undermining local farmers, who have launched protests across the EU, blocking highways in France and Belgium and marching on January 9 in Poland.
Romanian farmers, in turn, previously asked President Nicusor Dan to analyse more deeply the Mercosur Agreement and its effects on agriculture in Romania, drawing attention to the fact that, in the current context of the agreement, small and medium-sized farms will be in real difficulty and European and national funds will be lost.
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