Listening to angry farmers, the European Union (EU) is largely responsible for their woes. When they do not stigmatize the common agricultural policy (CAP), they attack the Green Pact, which should bring the Twenty-Seven to carbon neutrality in 2050, to free trade “frantic” of Brussels or the opening of the internal market to Ukrainian products.
In France, the National Rally (RN) and Les Républicains (LR), but also, to a lesser extent, the elected representatives of the presidential majority (Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons) and the left of the political spectrum relay all or part of these criticisms. Moreover, after supporting the Green Deal like the CAP, President Emmanuel Macron called for a ” break ” of the first in May 2023 and insisted to the Commission that it reform the second.
A few months before the European elections on June 9, which could see the far right make a breakthrough, the subject, politically flammable, has taken root in the campaign. In Strasbourg, however, over the last five years, French MEPs have not always been sensitive to issues dear to the rural world.
A hexagonal feature
On the left, the Greens, LFI and the socialists have, since 2019, largely defended the environment and the fight against global warming. Farmers in crisis can nevertheless be grateful to them for having systematically fought free trade agreements, including those with Chile and New Zealand, which were adopted under this legislature. In this regard, there is a French particularity, which means that even LR votes against trade agreements and, from this point of view, relays the cause of farmers.
The only exception among French elected officials, the presidential majority (except the breeder Jérémy Decerle). Valérie Hayer, the head of the presidential majority list who presents herself as “daughter and granddaughter of farmers”also voted for the agreement with Wellington. “These agreements are bad news for French agriculture. The agreement with New Zealand responds to geopolitical considerations in the Pacific; the one with Chile is to source lithium”judge Luc Vernet, from the Farm Europe think tank.
In November 2021, the Greens, socialists and LFI elected officials did not vote for the 2023-2027 CAP either, on the grounds that it was not green or social enough. Their Macronist colleagues from LR and RN had supported this text, thanks to which French farmers receive some 9 billion euros per year. “A good number of French MEPs, who pride themselves on supporting farmers, defended this reform at the polls”points out MEP Marie Toussaint, head of the Green list for the European elections.
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