EU and Mercosur agree huge trade deal after 20-year talks

[Muck Spreader]

Can you freeze avocados?

More to the point, why would you want to ? Horrible things

 

[caveman]

More to the point, why would you want to ? Horrible things

Must be about the closest thing to eating a big fat slug there is.

 

[Danllan]

Must be about the closest thing to eating a big fat slug there is.

Escargots?

 

[ollie989898]

France will not sign up to the European Union’s trade deal with the Mercosur group of South American countries at any cost and it remains to be seen whether Paris will eventually back it, French ministers have stated.

Prominent French Ministers said they will continue to fight against the accord agreed by the EU and the South American countries, which concluded two decades of talks between the blocs. France, the EU’s largest farming power, has regularly expressed concern over the risk of a surge in South American agricultural exports to Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed provisions in the draft accord protecting European geographical origin certification for food products and limiting Mercosur exports of sugar and beef.

However, growing uproar among the country’s agricultural community and lawmakers since the deal was announced has put the government under increasing pressure before the agreement goes to parliament for ratification, according to reports by French-based reporters for news agency Reuters.

“We won’t have an accord at any price. The story isn’t finished,” Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume has told French lawmakers. “We are going to wait see what exactly is in this text but, I would like to tell you that the whole government and I will be vigilant. I will not be the minister who sacrifices French agriculture on the altar of an international agreement.”

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian echoed that view, saying that while the draft trade deal provided opportunities for European exporters, it remained to be seen whether it met France’s demands.

“The red lines we have drawn for the agreement are firm,” he told parliament, adding that it “remained to be seen” whether Paris would support it.

French farmers’ groups are strongly opposed to what they see as lower standards in Mercosur countries, and Guillaume said a ratified deal would notably have to show proper traceability and good livestock practices in the beef sector.

France’s main farmers’ union, the FNSEA, has said that had requested a meeting with Macron and was also planning protests over the EU-Mercosur accord.

Meanwhile, all the main Irish farmer representative bodies have criticised the deal, stating that it threatens to decimate the beef sector, an industry which is already under severe pressure in relation to Brexit impacts.

IFA president, Joe Healy, said: “This deal represents a backroom deal with big business and kowtows to the likes of Mercedes and BMW in their drive to get cars into South America. It is a disgraceful and feeble sell out of a large part of our most valuable beef market to Latin American ranchers and factory farm units.

“Irish and European farmers adhere to the highest standards on traceability, animal welfare, food safety and the environment. Farmers in Brazil do not. Yet our Government and the EU Commission waved the white flag

What is this, the EU overlords doing something that seems contrary to the interests of European citizens? Say it ain't so....

 

[czechmate]

More to the point, why would you want to ? Horrible things

I love them. I can’t imagine them being any good after freezing though

 

[czechmate]

Escargots?

Hmm, six years here and haven’t got around to trying those yet

 

[caveman]

Escargots?

I have actually had l'escargot a couple of times in RSA and found them quite acceptable............but that may have been more to do with the lashings of butter and garlic they were cooked in and the superb presentation, service and surroundings more than anything.
Didn't go much on the grit though!!!!!!
As for calamari/squid.
Gawd sakes.
That stuff reminds me of that lump of rubber the school dentist shoved in my gob about sixty years ago, before the bar steward gassed me and yanked a tooth out.

 

[Danllan]

I have actually had l'escargot a couple of times in RSA and found them quite acceptable............but that may have been more to do with the lashings of butter and garlic they were cooked in and the superb presentation, service and surroundings more than anything.
Didn't go much on the grit though!!!!!!
As for calamari/squid.
Gawd sakes.
That stuff reminds me of that lump of rubber the school dentist shoved in my gob about sixty years ago, before the bar steward gassed me and yanked a tooth out.

I rather like calamari, but think escargots, whelks etc. revolting. Don't like uncooked oysters either, do like them cooked and scallops too.

I wonder how many people would willingly eat escargots without the sauce / dressing...

@czechmate I thought you were keen on 'integration', apparently if you want to get French nationality it's now part of the czechlist…

 

[czechmate]

I rather like calamari, but think escargots, whelks etc. revolting. Don't like uncooked oysters either, do like them cooked and scallops too.

I wonder how many people would willingly eat escargots without the sauce / dressing...

@czechmate I thought you were keen on 'integration', apparently if you want to get French nationality it's now part of the czechlist…

Eating good limousine beef seems far higher up the list in these parts

 

[turbo]

Eating good limousine beef seems far higher up the list in these parts

Is there such a thing?

 

[Danllan]

Eating good limousine beef seems far higher up the list in these parts

Don't know if you're a fan of Pete & Dud, but there are always the alternative French dishes of 'Peche a la frog' and 'Frog a la peche'...

Anyway, as Swift said 'He was a bold man that first ate an oyster' or snail...

 

[Hindsight]

Is there such a thing?

I assumed leather seats?