Farmers block roads in Brussels to protest EU-Mercosur free-trade deal

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.

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.

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.

Von der Leyen still going to Brazil?

Negotiations on the accord have stretched across 25 years. Once ratified, it would encompass a market of 780 million people and roughly a quarter of global gross domestic product.

Proponents argue the agreement would provide an alternative to Beijing's export controls and Washington's tariff policies. Critics warn it would weaken environmental regulations and damage the EU's agricultural sector.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said ahead of the Brussels summit that delaying or abandoning the deal would harm the EU's global standing. "If the European Union wants to remain credible in global trade policy, then decisions must be made now," he said.

The agreement also represents strategic competition between Western nations and China over Latin America, said Agathe Demarais, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

"A failure to sign the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement risks pushing Latin American economies closer to Beijing's orbit," she said.

Despite the likelihood of postponement, von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa remain scheduled to sign the deal in Brazil this weekend.

"We have to get rid of our over-dependencies, and this is only possible through a network of free-trade agreements," von der Leyen said. "It is of enormous importance that we get the green light for Mercosur."

Milei vs Lula

Political tensions within Mercosur in recent years — particularly between Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei and Brazil's centre-left Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — have not diminished South American leaders' commitment to sealing an alliance with Europe.

"We remain optimistic that next Saturday we will have approval from the European Union and, therefore, that we can proceed with the signing of the treaty," said Gabriel Oddone, Uruguay's economy and finance minister.

Lula has championed the agreement from South America's largest economy. As host of the upcoming summit, the Brazilian president is staking his diplomatic credibility on closing the deal ahead of next year's general elections, in which he will seek re-election.

At a cabinet meeting Wednesday, Lula expressed frustration with Italian and French opposition. He said Saturday would determine the fate of the accord.

"If we don't do it now, Brazil won't make any more agreements while I'm president," Lula said, adding that the pact would "defend multilateralism" as US President Donald Trump pursues unilateralism.

Milei, a close ideological ally of Trump, also supports the deal. "We must stop thinking of Mercosur as a shield that protects us from the world and start thinking of it as a spear that allows us to effectively penetrate global markets," he said.