PARIS (Reuters) – The FNSEA, the leading French farmers’ union, is studying the possibility of a national protest movement in the coming weeks, a spokesperson confirmed to Reuters on Friday.
A decision will be taken next Thursday following a meeting with representatives of the local FNSEA network and the various sectors, said the spokesperson. The Salon de l’Agriculture is held in Paris from February 24 to March 4.
Farmers continued the blockade of the A64 motorway between Toulouse and Tarbes, and the RN20 in Ariège, on Friday in Occitanie, disrupting traffic. Demonstrators also gathered on Thursday in the Loire, Loire-Atlantique and Mayenne.
Anger is spreading in Europe, particularly in Germany, Romania, Poland and the Netherlands, where farmers intend to express their exasperation in the face of growing insecurity.
If the sources of discontent differ depending on the country (in Germany, it was the gradual elimination of a tax advantage on diesel which ignited the powder), European farmers agree to deplore the increase in production costs , the commercial repercussions of the conflict in Ukraine or even what they consider to be an inflation of community environmental standards in the run-up to the European elections in June.
The climatic hazards of 2023 (summer drought then bad weather at the end of the year) also darken the picture.
As early as November, following a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau, the FNSEA and the Young Farmers union threatened a movement, arousing the concerns of the executive.
As a warning, farmers launched an operation in the fall called “We walk on our heads” which consists of turning over the road signs at the entrance and exit of municipalities. This is already the case in 12,000 localities, or nearly a third of municipalities, according to the FNSEA spokesperson.
“Our networks are calling for a real normative breath in the face of the findings that our leaders are walking on their heads”, we could read in November in a joint press release, in which the two unions notably asked the State to “suspend the increase in the RPD, of the water fee”.
The government finally agreed in December to remove from the 2024 draft budget a 20% increase in the diffuse pollution charge (RPD), a tax on pesticide sales.
But beyond “short-term measures”, farmers emphasize that they are waiting for “a real vision of the future” for the sector from French leaders.
During his press conference on Tuesday evening, Emmanuel Macron pledged to reduce “unnecessary standards” which “discourage” farmers.
(Written by Sophie Louet with the contribution of Sybille de La Hamaide, edited by Nicolas Delame)
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