Protests have an effect

Mercosur deal could fall through at the last minute

Farmers' protests against the Mercosur pact(Bild: APA/Jörg Carstensen/dpa/picturedesk.com)

Farmer protests in and around Austria have apparently had an effect. The Mercosur deal has (again) at least been postponed.

It was serious urgent mail that recently reached the EU Commission in Brussels. As the "Krone" reported, farmers' associations from all over Europe sent a letter to Belgium expressing their concerns about the impending Mercosur pact.

This agreement would be the death blow.

Bauernverbände zu Mercosur-Pakt

"Our farmers are already struggling with rising costs, stricter requirements and massive price pressure. This agreement would be the death blow," the appeal read.

Von der Leyen canceled meeting
And the EU farmers' concerns were apparently also heard in the heart of the EU. Because the newly re-elected EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will not sign the treaty on Friday, contrary to what had been planned. She recently canceled the meeting in Montevideo (Uruguay) that had been scheduled specifically for this purpose.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will not sign the treaty for the time being.(Bild: APA/AFP/JOHN THYS)

Farmers want to completely renegotiate the pact
"A great partial success. Production in Europe would be squeezed out by the pact, jobs would be destroyed and food would come from somewhere where there are no high production standards like in Austria," said Lower Austrian Vice-President Stephan Pernkopf, Lower Austrian Farmers' Association Director Paul Nemecek and EU mandatary Alexander Bernhuber.

Stephan Pernkopf, Vice-President of Lower Austria(Bild: Imre Antal)

The Austro-Agrarians themselves are currently in Brussels to form new farmers' alliances against the agreement with the Mercosur countries Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

They sense an opportunity to prevent the pact in its current form. Protests have been taking place in Germany, Poland, Italy and France.