Three farmer industry organizations from Bulgaria will join the pan-European protest against the European Union's trade agreement with the Mercosur countries.
The protest will take place on January 20 and is organized by the largest agricultural organization in Europe – Copa and Kojeka insist that the European Parliament not approve the agreement.
The Mercosur trade bloc includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and negotiations for this agreement have been ongoing for the past quarter of a century.
At the end of last week, Brussels gathered support from enough member states, including Bulgaria, and the document is due to be signed on January 17.
The large-scale and complex deal has caused both approval and serious reservations in a number of European capitals and has become a source of political tension in the EU.
Members of the European Parliament have asked the European Union's court to rule on the deal.
Meanwhile, European farmers are staging a protest in Strasbourg, with the National Association of Grain Producers, the Bulgarian Farmers' Union and the United Bulgarian Livestock Breeders expected to join Bulgaria in the protest.
Their concerns are that the Mercosur agreement envisages the import of huge quantities of grain and corn without duties, as well as imports of beef and poultry, which, according to them, do not meet strict European sanitary requirements.
According to the farmers' union, about 150-200 active farmers from our country will travel in an organized manner by planes and buses to Strasbourg to physically join the demonstrations in front of the European Parliament building.
Heavy equipment will not travel to France, but will probably be rented on site - our farmers will get on tractors of local farmers, they will carry Bulgarian flags and posters in Bulgarian - the union commented.