The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron discusses with representatives of farmers demonstrating at the Agricultural Show, February 24, 2024, in Paris (POOL/AFP/Ludovic MARIN)
President Emmanuel Macron strolls Saturday afternoon at the Agricultural Show behind a massive security cordon, but not sheltered from the din of whistles and insults from hundreds of farmers, both ulcerated by his presence and demanding concrete actions to improve their working conditions.
The head of state tastes honey from the Pays d’Auge and cheese from Haute-Savoie, shakes hands and responds to questions, looking almost imperturbable, but his voice is regularly drowned out by the din and the initial program completely upset by an unprecedented mess.
He is protected by dozens of CRS equipped with shields who, in occasional clashes, pushed the demonstrators back around fifty meters from him. The names of birds are flying: “Damn” or “liar”, like the cries (“Get the hell away!”) and the calls to resign.
Three people were arrested for violence against a person holding public authority, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office, then released; they will be summoned later.
CRS in front of a stand during the 60th agricultural show, February 24, 2024 in Paris (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)
The president, arriving at 8:00 a.m., began the day with a meeting with union leaders, then improvised two hours of debate with other representatives of the three main agricultural unions, the FNSEA, the Young Farmers and the Rural Coordination.
Leaning on a standing table, the president heard their complaints about income, controls, pesticides and financial aid. A format far from the big debate with NGOs and representatives of organic farmers once imagined by the Elysée.
“I always prefer dialogue to confrontation,” asserted the head of state. “I am telling you that the work is done on the ground, we have taken the copies, we are in the process of making all the simplifications,” he defended.
The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, right, receives representatives of agricultural unions at the Agricultural Show, February 24, 2024, in Paris (POOL/AFP/Christophe PETIT TESSON)
“As long as this is not materialized in the farmyards, we will be on your back,” replied a farmer.
“Have you listened to him? He doesn’t let the farmers talk, he cuts them off, he speaks informally… We’re not friends, that’s not possible. We want him to leave,” he said. AFP a farmer from Oise, Eric Labarre, FNSEA member.
– Fights –
The clashes occurred when he arrived at the pavilion where cows, sheep and goats are exhibited. Hundreds of people forced the gates and entered, opposing the security service and the police, with several blows exchanged, and causing a delay of an hour and a half in the opening of the show to the general public.
The doors of this hall, the most popular, were alternately opened and closed to the public, illustrating the general confusion, and giving rise to astonishing scenes of children tasting cheese a few meters from helmeted riot police. And quite a bit of disappointment: “There were CRS everywhere. The atmosphere of a besieged fortress,” regrets Sophie Sucurovski, 28, who came from the Ardennes with her two-year-old son.
Further on, the stand of Lactalis, the world number one in dairy products accused of paying poorly for milk, was targeted by a spill of manure, from which a brown liquid escaped.
– Price and law –
Emmanuel Macron has arranged to meet with union representatives within three weeks, after the Show, which will last until March 3.
The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron visits the Agricultural Show, February 24, 2024, in Paris (POOL/AFP/Ludovic MARIN)
But at this time, farmers will be preparing their fields for spring, while the show traditionally takes place in the depths of winter, when the fields require less work. When the head of state receives the unions at the Élysée, farmers will be able to spend less time outside their farm, observers note.
Emmanuel Macron repeated that the government had made 62 commitments in response to the movement which exploded on January 18 and made several announcements, including the creation of a “floor price” to better remunerate farmers, a census of farms requiring aid of emergency cash, and the inclusion in the law that agriculture and food was “a major general interest of the French nation”.
“Putting the word out on the concept of floor prices is already a small revolution,” greeted AFP the spokesperson for the Confédération Paysanne, a union opposed to intensive agriculture, Laurence Marandola. “Afterwards, this floor price will be constructed by sector, so it will be torn between producers and downstream. We will be careful.”
As for the major general interest of agriculture, a source within the executive indicates that this “carries legal consequences”. This was a demand from the FNSEA and could, for example, facilitate the construction of projects dedicated to agricultural irrigation despite the presence of protected species.
– “Stupidity” of the RN –
The president of the national cattle federation and 2nd vice-president of the FNSEA Patrick Bénézit had a lively exchange with the head of state who confused him with the boss of the entire beef industry, including slaughterhouses and distributors.
“Eye in the eye”, Emmanuel Macron criticized the Cantal breeder – who constantly demands that buyers take into account the costs of agricultural production – for not having protected the income of producers.
Visitors during the 60th Agricultural Show, February 24, 2024 in Paris (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)
During a lively debate but concluded with handshakes, the president raged against the idea that international trade necessarily harms French agriculture: “I want us to close the French borders , but good luck, we won’t export anything anymore.”
He also attacked the National Rally, denouncing a “project of degrowth and stupidity” which would consist of “leaving Europe”. While the movement of agricultural anger had calmed down since Gabriel Attal’s announcements ago three weeks, he left after the Élysée cited the radical collective of the Uprisings of the Earth among the possible participants in a major debate at the show, ultimately canceled in front of the bronca.
Emmanuel Macron affirmed on Saturday that he had “never thought of initiating” an invitation to the radical environmentalist collective, which distinguished itself in March 2023 during a day of clashes around the construction of an artificial water reservoir in Sainte-Marie. Soline (Deux-Sèvres) and which the government failed to dissolve.
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© 2024 AFP
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