Stop or still? The protest movement in the agricultural world has continued and intensified for several days, almost everywhere in France, leading to the fire of a Mutualité sociale et agricole building in Narbonne. Gabriel Attal went to a farm in Haute-Garonne. The Prime Minister must speak with around forty farmers, before announcing measures to respond to their anger and appease farmers determined to obtain concrete answers.
“I came because you wanted to send a message and I came to tell you that the message, we received it 5 out of 5, that I heard you, that we heard you,” said the Prime Minister in Montastruc-de-Salies (Haute-Garonne), after days of demonstrations and blockades by farmers.
10 administrative simplification measures
At the government level, we will see what we can simplify with the aim of the bill on agricultural orientation. To prove it to you, today, I am deciding on 10 measures.” In detail, he announced: the repeal of the 4-month deadline to 2 months for the creation of water retention structures, removing a level of jurisdiction in appeals, create a presumption of urgency for appeals of 10 months, drastically simplify what concerns cleanings, the French Biodiversity Office will be under the supervision of the prefect, single control for operators, no more than a passage of administrative control, passage of 14 to a regulation on hedges, the doubling of the emergency fund for Brittany.
Cancellation of the increase in the tax on GNR
Gabriel Attal announced that he was removing the increase in the tax on non-road agricultural diesel, which was to increase gradually until 2030. “We are going to stop with this trajectory of increase in GNR”. It thus meets one of the main demands of farmers. For a “simplification” of procedures, he also indicated that the tax rebates on this fuel would be deducted upon purchase, and no longer after the fact, on receipt, “by the summer”.
“Very heavy” sanctions against three companies which do not respect the Egalim law
The State also wishes to impose the proper application of the Egalim laws, which aim to protect the income of farmers in the context of negotiations with manufacturers and supermarkets. “In the coming days”, the government “will put maximum pressure in trade negotiations” and will “pronounce three very heavy sanctions against companies which do not respect Egalim”.
The Prime Minister promised a strengthening of controls and “maximum pressure” on ongoing negotiations between players in the sector.
An acceleration of emergency aid
“In emergency aid, there is ’emergency’. So on this, I am very clearly accelerating and I am announcing to you that we are accelerating fully for health and climate compensation, for payments from February”, announces Gabriel Attal.
He also announced an effort to provide rapid emergency aid, particularly with regard to epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) for which state reimbursement for veterinary care increased from 80 to 90%. This disease, transmitted by biting midges, mainly affects deer and cattle. The vast majority of outbreaks are concentrated in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Hautes-Pyrénées.
50 million euros in emergency aid for the organic sector
The head of government announced that he was going to “give back 50 million for the organic sector” for growers and breeders in the sector who have seen their income erode over the last two years with the decline in demand for these products. The government had already committed in 2023 to paying 94 million euros to this sector in difficulty.
Simplification of the CAP and opposition to the signing of the treaty with the Mercosur countries
“Leaving Europe means depriving yourself of 9 billion euros per year. The height of ridicule, those who are proposing it to you, they vote for the rules of the CAP, but not its budget,” declares the Prime Minister. “The President will commit to the fallow derogation next week.” “France is very clearly opposed” to “the signing” of the controversial trade agreement between the European Union and the Latin American countries of Mercosur.
“I repeat it here very clearly, very clearly. The President of the Republic has always opposed it and we continue and will continue to oppose it,” he said on a farm in Haute-Garonne. Mercosur and the EU have been negotiating this agreement for years, which stumbles on environmental issues. It is denounced in particular by French farmers, for the risk of unfair competition from South American products.
During this speech, standing in front of a bale of hay, the head of government increased his gestures of understanding towards farmers. “We will not let you go”, “we will fight at European level to also move the lines”, he concluded.