The white chairs planned for the big debate in the aisles of the Salon de l’Agriculture were already ready to receive the public and farmers. Finally, the President of the Republic announced that the meeting would not take place, after the majority agricultural union, the FNSEA, announced that it would not attend.
“The big debate is Emmanuel Macron’s favorite formula. Every time there is a crisis, he puts himself on the scene”, regrets, at the microphone of Europe 1, Sandrine Rousseau. “He does not listen to people, he is indifferent to suffering, but he puts himself on the scene. There, today, we are reaching the limit of that,” continues the Parisian MP, who does not hesitate not to speak of a “fiasco”. “It’s an absolute fiasco. The fact that this great debate was decided like that, in majesty and that he imagines being able to resolve the agricultural crisis with his sovereign word, it’s ridiculous,” adds Sandrine Rousseau.
To change direction
“It is no longer possible to manage France in this way,” she continues, assuring that farmers now want “to obtain gains for their income, for living conditions. But for the moment, There’s nothing that really allows us to change course on that.”
At Cédric Chasseur’s microphone, Sandrine Rousseau also believes that “the FNSEA is overwhelmed by its base”, believes that the union “is not the ally of small farmers. We have a fool’s dialogue which is that the FNSEA is trying to to become a spokesperson for the agricultural world even though it has an interest. In any case, its president has a direct interest in the closure of small farms. I think we are in the completely wrong place in the in the discussion with farmers and that now we must think about dignity, respect and income for farmers, but also for the environment,” she concludes.