EU delays massive free-trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur amid farmer protests

BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union is delaying a massive free-trade deal with South American countries after fiery protests by farmers and last-minute opposition by France and Italy threatened to derail the pact, seen by its backers as an important geopolitical move for both continents. Top EU officials had hoped to sign the EU-Mercosur deal in Brazil this weekend, after 26 years of negotiations. Instead, European Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho confirmed that the signature had been put off until January. READ MORE: EU offers farmers protections as it seeks support for deal with Mercosur trade alliance Experts say the delay could dent the EU’s negotiating credibility globally as it seeks to forge new trade ties amid commercial tensions with the U.S. and China. Once ratified, the trade deal would cover a market of 780 million people and a quarter of the globe’s gross domestic product, and progressively remove duties on almost all goods traded between the two blocs. French farmers unions, who fear the deal would undercut their livelihoods, welcomed the postponement. France had led opposition to the deal between the EU and the five active Mercosur countries - Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. Italy raised new reservations Wednesday. Thursday’s agreement for a delay was reached between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa on the sidelines of an EU summit with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, on the condition that Italy would vote in favor of the agreement in January, an EU official said. Chaos in the streets of Brussels The decision came hours after farmers in tractors blocked roads and set off fireworks in Brussels to protest the trade deal, prompting police to respond with tear gas and water cannons. The farmers brought potatoes and eggs to throw and waged a furious back-and-forth with police. Protesters burned tires and a faux wooden coffin bearing the word “Agriculture.” Their fire unleashed a black cloud that swirled with white tear gas. The European Parliament evacuated some staff due to damage caused by protesters. “We are fighting to defend our jobs,” said Armand Chevron, a 23-year old French farmer. Hundreds of farmers like Pierre Vromann, 60, had arrived on tractors, which they parked to block roads around the key institutions of the EU. The Mercosur deal would be “bad for farmers, bad for consumers, bad for citizens and bad for Europe,” said Vromann, who raises cattle and grains in the nearby Belgian city of Waterloo. Other farmers came from as far away as Spain and Poland. Reservations about the deal are growing French President Emmanuel Macron dug in against the Mercosur deal as he arrived for Thursday’s EU summit, pushing for further concessions and more discussions in January. He said he has been in discussions with Italian, Polish, Belgian, Austrian and Irish colleagues among others about delaying it. “Farmers already face an enormous amount of challenges,′′ he said, as farmer protests over the trade deal and a cattle disease roil regions around France. “We...

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