Food as movies: The agricultural exception is gaining traction in France

France’s far-right Rassemblement National and far-left LFI are proposing to introduce a form of ‘agricultural exception’, which, as is already the case for the arts, would exempt some agricultural products from the EU’s free trade agreements with other countries.

Read the original French story here.

“Should our elites leave agriculture in the deep end of the globalised economy with market prices, or should we have an agri-cultural exception that allows us to keep French agriculture, just as the cultural exception allowed us to preserve French cinema?” MP François Ruffin asked on X on 22 January.

EU trade agreements with third countries are among the main targets of the farmers’ protests in France. In particular, the French opposition to the EU-Mercosur trade agreement is shared by agricultural organisations at the EU level.

The “agricultural exception” has started gaining ground in the French public debate, especially pushed by the La France Insoumise (LFI) and Rassemblement National (RN) parties.

The idea is based on the concept of keeping cultural and audiovisual productions out of the global market in the early 1990s by EU countries and members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in favour of national productions.

In France, for example, television channels are required to broadcast 60% of works produced in Europe, including 40% in French. Similarly, from 2019, the EU has imposed a 30% broadcasting quota for European productions on streaming platforms.

Applying the idea to agriculture

The idea of applying such a measure to food is not new.

Facing the first waves of trade liberalisation in the 1990s, the Coopération rurale – France’s second largest trade union – called for an “agricultural exception” to protect agricultural products and maintain control over prices and quantities.

In 1995, the WTO Agreement on Agriculture integrated the sector into the world market.

Since then, the European Union concluded 42 trade agreements with 74 partner countries. According to a recent information report released by the French Parliament, the EU is “the world’s most prolific signatory of free trade agreements”.

Depending on the partner of the agreement, the EU can make concessions on agriculture.

For example, under the latest agreement signed with New Zealand, 38,000 tonnes of sheepmeat is to enter the EU duty-free each year – while the agreement with Chile does the same for an equivalent quantity of poultry and 180,000 tonnes for the agreement with the Mercosur countries.

On Wednesday (31 January), the European Commission is expected to publish a cumulative assessment of the impact of trade agreements on agriculture.

However, according to LFI MEP François Ruffin, agriculture must be excluded from free trade agreements.

The so-called “agricultural exception” is also defended by Rassemblement National President Jordan Bardella and other party members.

Contacted by Euractiv France, party spokeswoman Andrea Kotarac explained that the RN is first calling for an immediate moratorium on all current agreements to see what should or should not be removed, and do so sector by sector so as not to rattle exports.

In Italy, the idea of penalising imports to favour the national product is a long-standing issue of a minoritarian farmers movement, the Pitchfork Movement, which in 2013 brought growers to the streets in Sicily for the first time.

They came back last week, with a new name: the Committees of Betrayed Farmers, and the same platform of demands.

Europe “allows non-European countries to import goods from us without respecting the rules, giving space to multinationals that also play on the health of citizens”, the movement coordinator, Danilo Calvani, told the national newspaper la Repubblica.

Doubts on feasibility

However, according to economist Mathilde Dupré, the co-director of the Veblen Institute think-tank, it will be particularly difficult to protect French tomatoes in the same way as French cinema because it would drastically undermine France’s and the EU’s export power.

“There are farmers who benefit greatly from this trade,” she added.

French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau opposed the exclusion of agricultural products on Sunday (28 January)

“Do you know how far our wine and cognac travel? 20,000 km. Do you know how far our pork travels? All the way to China. If we question the free trade agreements, we are also depriving an entire section of French agriculture of its export capacity,” he said.

According to the latest report from FranceAgriMer, France is the world’s sixth-largest exporter of agricultural products. Exports account for 40% of sales in the dairy sector and 32% in the wine sector.

At the same time, France has been importing more than it exports since 2006.

Agriculture key to EU free trade deals

Another problem is that many free trade agreements include significant agricultural components, as partner countries typically rely heavily on the EU market to sell their agricultural products.

“In order to sell cars, chemicals or services, the EU often has to agree to open its market to agricultural products. Without agricultural products, for example, the agreement with Mercosur falls apart completely,” Dupré added.

But nothing is set in stone, and “what has been done can be undone”, the economist said, pointing out that agriculture was excluded from trade before 1995.

Although the Élysée declared on Monday (29 January) that the Commission had halted negotiations on its agreement with Mercosur countries, the European Commission has yet to confirm this.

Germany, for its part, fully supports the agreement.

France reaffirms opposition to EU-Mercosur deal as farmers' protests mount

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and MPs from all sides of the political spectrum have reaffirmed France’s opposition to the EU-Mercosur deal in a timely political move as farmers fiercely opposing the deal have stepped up protests and plan to march on Paris.

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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