Largest French employers' federation calls on country to sign EU-Mercosur agreement

The president of the French Business Movement (Medef, the largest French employers' organization), Patrick Martin, made a statement on Thursday addressed to the country's authorities asking them to unblock their position on theEuropean Union 's agreement with Mercosur because, according to the entity, Latin America is its priority to open up to new markets, which is necessary given the economic situation.

Martin, in an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI), stressed that, given the context of very low growth in France and trade tensions with the United States since Donald Trump took office, what needs to be done is to expand markets. “We need to speed things up, especially with Mercosur,” he added, before acknowledging that “certain things need to be corrected” in the agreement signed at the end of 2024 between the EU and the South American bloc, “in particular the mirror clauses” on environmental rules.

The president of Medef stated that “there is a growing interest on the part of companies” in a series of destinations, including Asian countries, and emphasized his priority: “let’s start with Latin America”.

The position of the productive sector clashes with Macron's stance

The French government and President Emmanuel Macron are vehemently opposed to the agreement reached between the EU and Mercosur, mainly because they believe it would be harmful to their farmers, who would have to face competition from products such as beef, chicken and cane sugar.

The argument is that, in practice, the agreement will allow the European market to be flooded with products that do not comply with the same health and environmental rules required of European farmers, and that is why Paris is demanding that so-called “mirror clauses” be added.

French authorities, who have the support of virtually the entire domestic political spectrum, are trying to form a blocking minority among EU countries to prevent its entry into force.

Deepening foreign trade is key for France to grow further, says Medef

However, Medef believes that it is necessary to find ways to stimulate the activity of French companies abroad, given the mediocre economic outlook. In a report on the economic situation published yesterday, the National Institute of Statistics (Insee) estimated that the French economy will grow by just 0.6% this year, even less than the 0.7% expected by the government, which revised its own forecast downwards in April, which was 0.9% in January and was above 1% previously.

Martin attributed these poor figures mainly to the fact that “public finances are not under control” and to political fragmentation, which generates instability and leads companies to postpone decision-making. He also highlighted that, in contrast, within the EU “there are countries that are doing very well”, referring in particular to Poland, which will grow this year “six times more than France”, and Spain, which will grow “five times more”.