55th Paris International Agricultural Show opens amid Mercosur fears

PARIS -- The 55th Paris International Agricultural Show opened here Saturday amidst French farmers expressing fears that free trade negotiations between the European Union (EU) and a South American bloc would affect them adversely.

President Emmanuel Macron held a closed-door breakfast meeting Saturday with the unions and main institutional actors of the show, that this year is themed "Agriculture as a collective adventure".

"We have a lot to do," Macron said.

French cattle farmers are worried that negotiations between the EU and Mercosur countries, namely Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, could lead to the import of nearly 70,000 tonnes of meat from South America at a cheaper price.

"We will ask Macron to refuse the Mercosur agreement that will be totally harmful to French agriculture," Jerome Despey, general secretary of FNSEA, the most influential general farm organization in France, said.

The show will continue till March 4.