Representatives of the French Farmers’ Union have urged new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to get things moving in Brussels ahead of next month’s International Agricultural Show as the country grapples with growing farmer protests.
On Monday evening, Attal and French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau met with Arnaud Rousseau, director of the French Farmers’ Union, and Arnaud Gaillot, president of Jeune Agriculture, to try to resolve the farmers’ protests, which have intensified in recent days.
“The prime minister listened very carefully to what we had to say,” said Rousseau as he left the meeting, which was held behind closed doors.
“We told the prime minister that we would not be content with words; farmers are waiting for specific action”, he insisted.
Since Thursday evening, France has seen the eruption of farmers’ protests across the country, with several dozen farmers blocking the A64 motorway between Toulouse and Bayonne.
During a Saturday visit to the Rhône region, France’s new prime minister promised to “cut red tape” for farmers to “make their lives easier”.
Farmers are demanding a government response to low incomes, rising costs, and the proliferation of French and EU standards to meet environmental targets, with both union representatives calling on Attal to adopt concrete short-term measures to prevent the situation from escalating.
While the blockades are still only being organised in France for now, FNSEA confirmed on France Inter that actions would occur “all week” in “all departments”.
“We have asked the prime minister to make statements during the week that will significantly change the situation”, said Rousseau, referring – in no particular order – to price controls on agricultural raw materials as price negotiations with distributors are currently in full swing, as well as to immediate discounts on fuel.
Rousseau and Gaillot also called for action at the EU level, calling on both Attal and President Emmanuel Macron to “get things moving” in Brussels.
“Europe is the framework within which we want to act, and this Europe is important to us, but we also need to call it into question because the highly administrative way in which it is run is no longer understood by farmers,” insisted Rousseau.
In a recent interview with France Inter, Rousseau criticised the EU’s Green Deal for undermining the agricultural sector when imports into the EU are exploding, particularly concerning the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) requirement for farmers to set aside 4% of unproductive land.
“You can’t impose dates on us that govern what we do in our fields, you can’t have obligations to replant meadows when we no longer have animals,” he said, adding that none of the measures “seem to make no sense”.
Environmental legislation pushed through by Brussels is at the root of other protests across the EU in recent months, whether in the Netherlands, Poland or Germany.
In order to have an impact at the EU level, the French unions pointed to the International Agricultural Exhibition, which will be held in Paris from 24 February to 3 March 2024.
“It’s the right time,” said Rousseau, who added that he had discussed the matter with his European counterparts, particularly in Italy and Germany.
“As long as we don’t have concrete decisions and as long as the Prime Minister’s messages are not well received and accepted by farmers, there will be no end to the action on the ground,” he added.
(Hugo Struna | Euractiv.fr)
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