Prime Minister Gabriel Attal says he is “ready” for a “debate” with Marine Le Pen on agriculture, but refuses to allow the Salon which opens under high tension on Saturday to become “hostage to political jousting”. “If the RN (National Rally, editor’s note) wants to transform the fields into political terrain, then I am ready for a debate on agriculture with Marine Le Pen”, affirms the head of government in an article in the Figaro posted online Tuesday evening, on the eve of a press conference he is to hold on the agricultural crisis.
“We don’t hear much from her (Marine Le Pen, editor’s note), probably because she is not comfortable with her party’s record in the European Parliament. It’s too easy to say nothing”, he believes. For the RN, “farmers are electoral cannon fodder. They ride on tractors and make a lot of platform remarks, but behind them, we find neither balance sheet nor consistency”, according to the head of government.
“A proud moment for our farmers”
“In five years of European Parliament, the record of Jordan Bardella (president of the RN) on agriculture is zero: 0 report and 0 resolution on the subject. It is 0 action, but 100% weather vane since the RN voted against the CAP (common agricultural policy) in 2019, for it in 2021, and now is against it again,” accuses Gabriel Attal. Marine Le Pen “was not even in the hemicycle when the Egalim law (supposed to guarantee decent remuneration to farmers, editor’s note) was passed and her deputies voted against. When we made the law on harvest insurance , the only RN deputy present in the hemicycle did not vote for it”, according to him.
But for the head of government, the Agricultural Show which is held at Porte de Versailles in Paris from February 24 to March 3, “is above all a moment of pride for our farmers and a popular and family moment of meetings and sharing”, it “cannot be hostage to political jousting, this is not the place to lead the European election campaign”. Gabriel Attal, who is expected to visit the show next Tuesday, intends to “be in a frank, concrete and taboo-free exchange with (the) farmers”.
An evolution of the Egalim law
The majority union alliance FNSEA-Young Farmers (JA) has not eased the pressure on the executive since it called for the blockages to be lifted after a third round of announcements on February 1, which range from the payment of emergency aid to simplification decrees including a “pause” on the Ecophyto pesticide reduction plan.
The Prime Minister indicates that he will launch a parliamentary mission entrusted to two deputies from the majority Alexis Izard (Renaissance) and Anne-Laure Babot (MoDem) to propose “by the end of the summer” an evolution of the Egalim law so that it better takes into account the “farmers’ cost of production”. Gabriel Attal will also issue a decree this week which declares all agricultural sectors “professions in tension” to make it easier to use foreign labor.