Overview
- The European Commission confirmed the planned signature is postponed to early January to consult member states that sought more time.
- Thousands of farmers converged on Brussels with roughly 1,000 tractors, and police used water cannon and tear gas after some protesters set fires and smashed windows at the European Parliament.
- Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva urged the EU to show courage and complete the pact after 26 years of negotiations.
- Reports pointed to a possible January 12 signing in Paraguay, though Paraguay’s foreign minister and his Brazilian counterpart said they had received no official notification.
- France’s Emmanuel Macron said the deal cannot be signed in its current form and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni requested a delay, while Germany, Spain and Nordic countries pressed for rapid approval of a pact that would expand EU import quotas for South American farm goods and cut tariffs on industrial exports.