Police deployed tear gas and water cannon against thousands of farmers who converged on Brussels Thursday, blocking roads with tractors and hurling potatoes and eggs as European leaders gathered to debate a contentious trade pact with South America, Report informs via Euronews.
Demonstrators on tractors opposing the EU-Mercosur agreement massed near the Europa building, where leaders of the 27 EU member states met to discuss amending or postponing the trade deal, while a twin rally converged on Place Luxembourg, just steps away from the European Parliament.
"What we ask is to be able to live off our work, and we are against Mercosur because if we import meat, products from abroad where they don't respect the same rules, it's not normal," one farmer told Euronews.
"We have a lot of rules to respects and they are not respecting, and yet (the EU) is willing to import more," he said.
The accord, which would eliminate tariffs on nearly all goods traded between the EU and five Mercosur nations - Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia - over 15 years, faces mounting resistance.
Italy signalled Wednesday it had joined French-led opposition to the transatlantic free-trade pact, after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told parliament that signing the agreement "would be premature" and said Italy wanted "adequate reciprocal guarantees for our agricultural sector" before approving the deal.
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived at the summit maintaining his opposition and calling for further negotiations in January. "We are not ready. It doesn't add up," he said. "This accord cannot be signed."
Macron said he had discussed delaying the agreement with counterparts from Italy, Poland, Belgium, Austria and Ireland. His government has demanded safeguards against economic disruption, increased regulations on Mercosur nations including pesticide restrictions, and enhanced inspections at EU ports.
Italy's stance gives France sufficient votes to veto European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's planned inking of the accord on Saturday, as she requires backing from at least two-thirds of EU nations to proceed with the agreement.
"This doesn't mean that Italy intends to block or oppose (the deal), but that it intends to approve the agreement only when it includes adequate reciprocal guarantees," Meloni said.