Poland will block the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement in its current form, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Tuesday. The deal, negotiated since 1999 and covering 700 million people across the EU and Mercosur nations (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Uruguay), remains controversial, especially among European farmers.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he wanted to send a “political message” that Warsaw could not accept the current terms of a trade deal that would hurt its agricultural sector. Poland is the EU’s biggest poultry producer.