Photo used for demonstration purposes. A farmer on his tractor leaves the harbour of Bordeaux and its dam after the blockade by the Coordination Rurale hard-line farmers' union (CR) was lifted, near Bassens, southwestern France on November 22, 2024, opn the fifth day of the nationwide protests against pay and conditions and a prospective EU-Latin America trade deal. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)
Warsaw: Poland's deputy prime minister said Friday it would not back a trade deal between the European Union and the Mercosur bloc, a long-negotiated agreement which provoked staunch resistance from farmers across Europe.
The contours of the agreement with the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay were agreed in 2019, but some EU countries have blocked it going any further, with France leading the opposition.
Farmers worry the trade deal would further depress their produce prices and increase competition from exporting nations that are not bound by strict and costly EU environmental laws.
"Poland will not support this agreement," Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters, saying the government would take its final decision on the deal at a meeting Tuesday.
Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski on Friday said, "we do not think this will be any other position than a negative one."
He spoke after hosting French counterpart Annie Genevard in Warsaw.
Earlier this month, the agriculture ministry voiced "serious reservations" regarding the current draft of the EU-Mercosur agreement, warning that Polish and European producers could be "ousted from the EU market" if it is signed.
The ministry warned the deal may hurt Polish poultry and beef, sugar and ethanol producers the most.
The proposed trade pact sparked a new wave of farmers' protests, mostly in France, where demonstrators staged dozens of rallies across the country.
Polish farmers have announced they will launch a new blockade Saturday at the Medyka border crossing with neighbouring Ukraine, listing the Mercosur deal among the principal reasons for the protest.
