Farmers block Brussels roads, light fires in tense protest over EU-Mercosur deal

Protesters lit fires and hurled potatoes at riot police who responded with teargas and water cannon in Brussels on Thursday, as tensions boiled over at a farmer demonstration against the EU's planned trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur.

About 1,000 honking tractors rolled into the Belgian capital to heap pressure on an EU leaders' summit where the deal's fate hung in the balance. 

"We're here to say no to Mercosur," Belgian dairy farmer Maxime Mabille told AFP. "It's like Europe has become a dictatorship," he said, accusing European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen of seeking to "force the deal through".

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At least 7,000 farmers staged a mostly peaceful march through the capital's European quarter, where the Mercosur deal loomed large over an EU summit focused on funding Ukraine's war effort.

But rowdy scenes erupted outside the European Parliament, where farmers lit a bonfire of tires and hay and threw tubers at the police, who fired back with teargas – with black smoke filling surrounding streets.

AFP witnessed acts of vandalism by troublemakers on the sidelines, who smashed windows at the parliament building. 

Farmers, particularly in France, worry the Mercosur deal will see them undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbours.

Plans by the commission chief to fly to Brazil this weekend to sign the agreement were thrown in jeopardy Wednesday after Italy joined fellow heavyweight France in seeking a delay.

Read moreWhat to know about the EU-Mercosur deal

Arriving for Thursday's summit talks, von der Leyen said she still hoped for an accord.

"It is of enormous importance that we get the green light for Mercosur and that we can complete the signatures," said the EU chief – who held what she called a "good and productive" meeting with a European farmers' delegation to hear their concerns.

Clout to shoot down deal

The EU-Mercosur pact would create the world's biggest free-trade area and help the EU to export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America at a time of global trade tensions. 

But farmers say it would also facilitate the entry into Europe of beef, sugar, rice, honey and soybeans produced by their less-regulated South American counterparts.

Paris and Rome have been calling for more robust safeguard clauses, tighter import controls and more stringent standards for Mercosur producers.

President Emmanuel Macron warned on arrival in Brussels that France would not support deal without stronger safeguards for its farmers.

"I want to tell our farmers, who have been making France's position clear all along: we consider that we are not there yet, and the deal cannot be signed" as it stands, Macron told reporters.

He vowed France would oppose any "attempt to force this through".

Watch moreEuropean Union divided over Mercosur trade deal: France and Italy demand tougher safeguards

Key power Germany, as well as Spain and the Nordic countries, strongly support the Mercosur pact, eager to boost exports as Europe grapples with Chinese competition and a tariff-happy administration in the White House.

"If the European Union wants to remain credible in global trade policy, then decisions must be made now," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters in Brussels Thursday.

But with Paris, Italy, Hungary and Poland in opposition, the deal's critics would now have enough clout within the European Council to shoot down the deal, were it to be put to a vote.

The last-mile upset in European ranks drew a stern rebuke Wednesday from Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who told his EU partners the time to close the deal was now or never.

European farmers are also incensed at plans put forward by the European Commission to overhaul the 27-nation bloc's huge farming subsidies, fearing less money will flow their way.

"Our message is pretty simple: we've been protesting since 2024 in France, in Belgium and elsewhere," said Florian Poncelet of the Belgian farm union FJA. 

"We'd like to be finally listened to," he said.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)