PARIS (Reuters) – The French government made a first gesture towards farmers on Friday by threatening sanctions against distributors and manufacturers who do not comply with the Egalim laws, texts for “the balance of commercial relations in the agricultural sector” which are insufficiently applied nowadays.
French farmers continued their national protest movement on Friday, with road blockades all the way to the gates of Paris, displaying their determination to bring the government to its knees.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is expected at 4:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. GMT) at a cattle farm in Montastruc-du-Salies, in Haute-Garonne, to announce the first “simplification measures” for the benefit of farmers, according to Matignon.
The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, brought together the trade negotiations monitoring committee on Friday morning, a meeting planned before the farmers’ blockades begin to paralyze the French road network, in the presence of industrialists, representatives of the agricultural world and mass distribution.
At the end of the meeting, Bruno Le Maire told the press that next week he would send “to all manufacturers and all distributors who are in violation injunctions to comply with the Egalim law”.
The result: sanctions of up to 2% of turnover.
The three Egalim laws – the first was promulgated in 2018, the second in 2021, the third in 2023 – aim to protect farmers’ income by allowing them to influence discussions on the prices of agricultural raw materials.
However, in a context of sustained inflation, distributors “deny the principle of non-negotiability of prices”, according to farmers.
AN EXPECTED GESTURE ON GNR
Among their demands, the farmers demand “the full and complete application of the Egalim laws”.
“The signals sent a few days before the end of trade negotiations (January 31 – Editor’s note), particularly in this period of inflation, are harmful to the implementation of Egalim,” underline the FNSEA and the Young Farmers union ( JA) in the common summary of the grievances presented to Gabriel Attal.
In addition to the precariousness of their profession, farmers also denounce the soaring costs and an inflation of environmental standards.
The FNSEA and JA consider emergency aid necessary for the “sectors most in crisis” (viticulture and organic agriculture) and the launch of a “project to reduce standards”.
They demand a moratorium on the ban on pesticides, the immediate payment of aid from the CAP (“Common Agricultural Policy” of the EU), the acceleration of water storage projects and the withdrawal of the “Plan water” of 2021 which regulates water withdrawals in the event of drought.
But the most awaited emergency measure is that concerning the gradual abolition by 2030 of the zero-rating of non-road diesel (GNR), a fuel used by farmers, announced last September by Bruno Le Maire. Since the start of the year, farmers have been faced with an increase in the price of a liter of RNG.
“We are determined, (…) we are waiting patiently for the Prime Minister to tell us what is going on and then we will communicate after having brought together our networks to take stock together,” declared the president of the FNSEA , Arnaud Rousseau, on BFM TV.
The FNSEA plans to speak “around 8:00 p.m.” (7:00 p.m. GMT) on the announcements of the head of government, he added.
The threat of a “blockade” of Paris remains.
The A1 motorway, a major axis linking Paris to Lille, was blocked Friday morning in both directions near Senlis (Oise), according to a Reuters journalist present on site.
South of Paris, the national 118, close to the A10 motorway and Orly airport, was blocked between Marcoussis and Orsay (Essonne), according to the Sytadin network of the prefecture of the Ile-de-France region. of France.
Vinci Autoroutes also indicated that the A11 motorway towards Paris was cut at Chartres (Eure-et-Loire).
(Written by Blandine Hénault and Sophie Louet, with contributions from Sybille de La Hamaide and Nicolas Delame)
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