Anger does not subside among French farmers. Despite the Prime Minister’s announcements last week, farmers continued blockades throughout the country, some even taking the road to Paris with the aim of blocking the Rungis international market. At issue: incomes that are too low, ever more restrictive standards and competition deemed unfair and exacerbated by free trade treaties.
Faced with the continuation of the movement, the tenant of Matignon will speak again this afternoon. Follow our live stream.
Information to remember:
- Gabriel Attal wants to include “the objective of sovereignty in the law”
- The Prime Minister announces 150 million euros in tax and social support for breeders
- The State wants to prevent the importation into France of fruits and vegetables treated with the pesticide thiacloprid
Gabriel Attal wants to include “the objective of sovereignty in the law”
Gabriel Attal announced Thursday, in response to the farmers’ crisis, that he wanted to “enshrine the objective of (food) sovereignty in the law”, during a press conference in Matignon after ten days of protest movement.
“We want to be sovereign, sovereign to cultivate. Sovereign to harvest. Sovereign to feed ourselves,” explained the Prime Minister, who wants to deliver a “clear message” with “two watchwords for agriculture: produce and protect” .
150 million euros in tax and social support for breeders
“My method is clear and based on three principles: responsiveness, dialogue, transparency,” declared Gabriel Attal during his press conference this Thursday. After recalling the measures announced last week in the face of farmers’ protests, the Prime Minister unveiled new ones. For these new measures, “Two watchwords: produce and protect our agriculture”.
To achieve this, the tenant of Matignon announced nearly 150 million euros in tax and social support for breeders. Gabriel Attal also stressed that the government wanted to “strengthen the Egalim law” to protect farmers’ remuneration.
“We are going to strengthen the Egalim law” to protect farmers’ remuneration
“We are going to strengthen the Egalim law” to protect farmers’ remuneration, announced Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. “The income of our farmers is the dignity of our farmers,” he said. The first two laws known as Egalim 1 and 2, adopted in 2018 and 2021, aimed to prevent producers from bearing the brunt of the fierce price war between supermarkets on the one hand, and distributors and suppliers of the agro-industry on the one hand. ‘somewhere else.
A safeguard clause on a pesticide to “fight against unfair competition”
Unfair competition, particularly with the use of phytosanitary products banned in France, is also at the center of Gabriel Attal’s press conference. In front of journalists, the Prime Minister announced that he had taken “a safeguard clause on a pesticide, thiacloprid, which we have banned in Europe”.
According to him, this decision represents an example of a “safeguard clause” or “mirror measure” – a mechanism which requires imported products to respect the same rules as those imposed on European farmers -, which France can take to avoid “competition unfair.”
Gabriel Attal also asked Thursday that the issue of limiting Ukrainian grain imports into the European Union be included in a negotiation. “On Ukraine, I said, we are moving forward with the creation of safeguard clauses, particularly on poultry. We will have to address the issue of cereals in the framework of the negotiations which are opening,” a- he declared during a press conference to respond to the agricultural crisis. The EU has not included cereals among the “sensitive” products on which imports can be limited.
Attal wants a “clear” definition of synthetic meat at European level
During his press conference, the Prime Minister assured that he wanted a “clear” definition of synthetic meat at European level. “No, synthetic meat does not correspond to the concept of our French diet,” he explained.
Bruno Le Maire announces “more than 10,000 checks on the French origin of products”
After the Prime Minister, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire took the floor and announced “more than 10,000 checks on the French origin of products”, as well as checks in “all major supermarkets in the coming days.
The Ecophyto plan aimed at reducing the use of pesticides put on hold, announces Marc Fesneau
The Minister of Agriculture announces the pause of this plan aimed at reducing the use of pesticides. He also underlined that the agricultural sector would be recognized as a “profession in tension”.
>> More information to follow…