Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is on the ground again this Sunday. After traveling to Haute-Garonne on Friday, the head of government arrived at 10:15 a.m. at a farm in Indre-et-Loire. This trip takes place on the eve of the start of the “siege of the capital” promised by certain farmers who believe that the announcements in favor of the sector are still insufficient.
“Standards that are like directories”
At the heart of their concern: the lack of income. In 30 years, the net income of the French agricultural sector has fallen by 40%. If Gabriel Attal announced, among other things, administrative simplification measures, the cancellation of the increase in the tax on non-road diesel (GNR), the acceleration of emergency aid… He was not question of peasant remuneration. However, according to Karl Olive, Renaissance MP for Yvelines, guest of the Grand Rendez-vous Europe 1-CNews-Les Échos this Sunday, this is the main demand from farmers.
“They want to be paid a fair price. They want there to be reciprocity between rights and duties, for the rules to be the same in France and in Europe. And above all they want, pardon the expression, let’s stop bothering them with standards that are like directories,” he said.
Another demand from farmers is a reduction in standards, particularly environmental ones, which stifle their daily lives. For example, agricultural fields can be covered by ten different zonings. “Natura 2,000” zones, water catchment zones, bird directives or even nitrate vulnerability zones, with, each time, different rules which, sometimes, contradict each other.
“A farmer from my constituency explained to me: ‘we no longer even dare to plant a tree, there are 14 regulations’. Can we trust this country before being systematically presumed guilty? This is what farmers are waiting for,” he continued.
“These ecologists who think they are cowboys”
“We’re talking about organic, for example, with the left, the far left and these ecologists who think they’re cowboys and who systematically want to pile on additional standards. Terrific! What’s happening? The price of tomatoes in Spain is twice as important or almost as that of France. Today, you have farmers who no longer even dare to have the organic label because they are a pain in the ass,” thundered the MP.
“Gabriel Attal will smell the ass of the cows”
For Karl Olive, it is necessary to contact farmers, like Gabriel Attal, to understand their demands and appease anger. “You see what Gabriel Attal is doing, he is going to feel the cow’s ass! We must not run away from our responsibilities, we must take it hard on the pitch and that’s what’s happening and it’s working “, he said, encouraging us to take inspiration from mayors. “These are the most popular people in this country and they are little or not listened to. That must change,” he added.