French prime minister Michel Barnier has warned the EU that his country cannot accept a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the Mercosur group of South American nations, describing the current deal as "disastrous" for its agricultural sector.

Mr Barnier spoke following a meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen this week, saying: "I told the president that under the current conditions this deal is not acceptable for France."

He added that the FTA would have a serious impact on entire sectors, in particular livestock farming. French farmers have already expressed concerns that the prospect of cheap imported beef from Argentina and Brazil would undercut their domestic products.

This week, farmers held protests against the deal near the EU headquarters, with more planned across the country for next week.

Arnaud Rousseau, chairman of France's largest farm union FNSEA, said: "If we were to validate this agreement, it would be a real disaster for European and French agriculture, with production conditions that obviously don't respect any of our production standards."

However, despite the objections of one of its largest members, the EU still hopes to strike a final deal with Mercosur at a trade summit with the bloc in early December. Politico noted that if enacted, the FTA would create a common market of nearly 800 million people and around a fifth of global GDP.

It has been characterized by some commentators as a "cows for cars" deal, with autos from EU members such as Germany being freed from many import costs to Mercosur in exchange for more open markets for South American agricultural products.

France is not able to veto the FTA on its own, and will need the support of other EU nations representing at least 35 percent of the EU population to vote against any deal when it comes before national parliaments. This is a threshold that Politico noted it currently appears unlikely to reach.