Strasbourg, Jan 20, 2026, 10:00 CET
- More than 700 tractors expected around the European Parliament in Strasbourg in a two-day farm protest
- EU lawmakers vote on Jan. 21 on whether to seek a top-court opinion that could stall ratification
- French PM Lecornu has promised an emergency farm law in March and new measures on water, nitrates and taxes
Thousands of French farmers began a two-day tractor protest in Strasbourg on Tuesday, with more than 700 vehicles expected around the European Parliament, as they stepped up opposition to the EU-Mercosur trade deal. The action was called by the FNSEA union and its Jeunes Agriculteurs youth wing. 1
The protest lands on the eve of a European Parliament vote on whether to ask the EU Court of Justice — the bloc’s top court — for an opinion on the agreement’s legal basis and its compatibility with EU treaties. If lawmakers request the opinion, parliament can only vote on ratifying — formally approving — the deal after the court responds, parliament documents show. 2
The European Union and Mercosur — a South American trade bloc that includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — signed the accord in Paraguay on Saturday after more than 25 years of talks. The pact would remove tariffs on more than 90% of goods traded between the blocs and applies to a market of about 700 million people. “We choose fair trade over tariffs,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the signing. 3
In Strasbourg, the Bas-Rhin prefecture warned of major disruptions from 6 a.m., with convoys due to move from assembly points in Alsace towards the parliament district. Regional newspaper DNA said two tractor processions were expected to depart from Place de Bordeaux, while Coordination Rurale planned a separate rally nearby. The city’s bus and tram operator also warned of knock-on disruption. 4
The row has pulled in farmers from neighbouring countries. Eight Belgian Farmers’ Union members left Leuven on Monday by tractor and about 100 others were due to travel by bus, The Brussels Times reported. “We continue to oppose the unfair Mercosur trade agreement,” Farmers’ Union President Lode Ceyssens said. 5
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has tried to cool the protests with what his office called a second package of measures, covering taxation, water and nitrates, and an emergency agricultural law due in March. “Agricultural sovereignty cannot just be a slogan,” he wrote in a message on X. Geoffroy d’Evry, head of the Union of French Potato Producers, said “the real issue is that we should be able to continue producing in France” and complained about the weight of regulation. 6
Lecornu is also leaning on Article 49.3 — a constitutional tool that lets the government pass a bill unless lawmakers topple it in a no-confidence vote — to force France’s 2026 budget through parliament. “I am doing it with regret,” he told journalists on Monday. ING analysts said “the prospect of early legislative elections is receding,” but warned the final budget was likely to weigh on investment and hiring. 7
But the Strasbourg tractors may not move the numbers in Brussels. A court referral, if approved, could freeze the ratification vote while judges examine the text — a process that could take up to two years — while the European Commission has said a court referral would not automatically trigger provisional application of the deal. Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal have expressed support for the agreement, with France among the opponents. 8
Farm unions say they are fighting a familiar asymmetry: tighter rules at home, and imports produced under looser standards. Wednesday’s vote will show whether lawmakers want to slow the pact down — or push it back onto the long track of ratification fights.
