Farmer protests block route to Spain via Perpignan

French farmers have been taking to the streets in recent days to protest the lack of response from public authorities to the sector’s demands. A mobilization that follows the example of what has happened in recent weeks in other European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania.

In France, the protests began with blockades of several roads in the Toulouse region, whose traffic has been disrupted since last Thursday, and have spread to other parts of the country over the past few days. This Monday, a group of French farmers blocked the A9 highway south of Perpignan, which leads to the Spanish border. “The fatigue that farmers have expressed for months is turning into anger across France,” warned the president of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA). Arnaud Rousseau, on social networks (old Twitter) Friday night.

“I can confirm that, starting today, throughout the week and as long as necessary, a certain number of actions will be taken,” the leader of the sector’s main union in France said during an interview on Monday. on public radio France Inter, in which he also expressed a sense of general “social decline” affecting the profession and called for “concrete proposals” from the government.

The protests began days before Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau presented to the Council of Ministers a new bill on agricultural policy that unions consider inadequate.

On Sunday, Fesnew announced a last-minute postponement of the presentation of the text to add a section for the simplification of administrative controls and procedures, which is one of the demands of the FNSEA, as well as for expansion projects for livestock industrial warehouses. There is also more flexibility. , a measure that particularly affects poultry and pig farms.

The union had already warned that the mobilization could take place throughout this month of January and that it would last until the Agricultural Show, a great national event that is held in Paris in the last week of February and which is a thermometer of relations between Works as. Representatives of the political class and agricultural organizations.

meeting the prime minister

This start of the crisis represents the first litmus test for new Prime Minister Gabriel Atal, who since Monday has held a series of meetings with the main agricultural organizations in the company of the region’s minister. Last November, after the first organized protest movement, his predecessor agreed to postpone an increase in taxes on water use and pollution related to the use of phytosanitary products.

absolutely government scheme ecophyto, which aims to reduce the use of these types of products in France – Macron announced its complete abandonment before the retreat – and which is currently in the process of renegotiation, occupies a prominent place in the FNSEA’s demands . The union reiterates that “there can be no prohibition without a solution” and wants France to ask Brussels to suspend other environmental measures of the new common agricultural policy, such as the obligation to leave 4% of arable land fallow.

Another point of discussion: sales rates between producers and distributors for 2024. Farmers want respect for existing law, which establishes that the price of agricultural raw materials cannot be negotiated once rates have been set. In the context of pressure in negotiations between the agri-food industry and distributors to limit inflation, farmers accused distributors of renegotiating prices against the law.

The government is trying to negotiate a solution and prevent the demonstrations from spreading to other areas and escalating the protests. “(Farmers) are absolutely right and I share their pain and anger,” French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire insisted on the country’s most-watched news program on Sunday. “A series of decisions must be taken immediately.”

The minister pointed to “sweeping simplification of the rules”, which he said were “too complex, expensive and, sometimes, impossible to implement”. Also, he announced that his department would “mobilize 100 inspectors to verify that, in negotiations, the income of our producers is protected and the law is strictly and rigorously enforced.”

However, despite demands multiplied over the weekend among the opposition, the executive refused to reverse the tax increase on non-road diesel (used for tractors and other farm machinery). This is one of the main causes of the crisis, as happened in Germany, where farmers mobilized to prevent a similar tax increase.

a farmer ran away

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has also been cordial towards the protests. Darmanin assured that no “evacuation by law enforcement” was expected on the A64 motorway, the main road blocked by farmers, “as no damage is occurring at the site.”

The only serious incident occurred this Tuesday morning in the department of Ariège, when “a vehicle collided with some straw bales and crushed three people”, killing a farmer and seriously injuring his husband and his daughter. , “for unknown reasons,” according to statements by the prosecutor at the Toulouse Court of Appeal. Three people in the car were arrested.

“The EU wants to destroy French agriculture”

At his press conference last week, Macron noted the need for “better support for farmers” to “improve their practices” in the face of ecological change. The President, who is in the background for now, has asked his chief ministers and prime ministers to unite across the country, on an issue the extreme right is trying to capitalize on in the run-up to the next European elections.

Jordan BurdellaThe president of the National Group and head of the electoral list visited a farm dedicated to milk production on Saturday. Bardella described this mobilization as a “movement of anger” against the European Union, pointing specifically to green deal, The MEP described his party as the only safeguard against “an EU that wants to destroy French agriculture”. “The fight for agriculture is also a fight against the erasure of the rural world,” he assured.

The offensive aims not only to strengthen the popularity of Marine Le Pen’s party among farmers – who represent only 1.5% of the country’s active population – but also to become the spokesperson for the “forgotten France” against globalization. Statements that remind many of the protesters’ interventions in the media, which generally refer to the free trade agreements negotiated by Brussels as responsible for unfair competition conditions with respect to materials imported from Mercosur or Oceania countries.