Demonstration of farmers in front of a cheese factory belonging to the Lactalis group, in Bouvron, in Loire-Atlantique, January 18, 2024 (AFP/LOIC VENANCE)
A month before the opening of the Agricultural Show and with the approach of the European elections, the multiplication of signs of discontent among farmers concerns the government, against the backdrop of an offensive by a National Rally which it accuses of “blowing on the embers.
The discontent in neighboring countries has not escaped the executive. After the Netherlands, it is from Germany that the anger is being heard, with a massive mobilization against a plan to increase taxes on agricultural diesel, with road blockages and tractor parades.
In France, one-off actions are being organized. Dairy farmers gathered Thursday in front of several Lactalis sites in the West, denouncing the price of milk set by the group, considered too low. On Friday, traffic was blocked by farmers on the A64 between Toulouse and Bayonne.
On a series of “hot topics”, the profession “waits for very clear answers before the Agricultural Show” from February 24 in Paris, warned the president of the FNSEA Arnaud Rousseau during his wishes.
The FNSEA logo during a demonstration in front of a Lactalis group site in Bouvron, in Loire-Atlantique, on January 18, 2024 (AFP/LOIC VENANCE)
The majority farmers’ union is meeting its board of directors on Wednesday and should be able to announce the actions it intends to take “next Thursday”, an internal source at the federation told AFP.
As for the Rural Coordination, the second agricultural union, it plans to mobilize on January 25 “almost everywhere in France” with operations of “covering the radars” to denounce “overadministration”, or even “more spectacular operations”.
– “Rearmament of agriculture” –
Inflation, administrative burdens, fed up with the feeling of being crushed by national or European standards, in the name of ecological transition: the reasons for anger are diffuse.
“I hear and I am very attentive to the expressions of farmers,” assured Friday to the Dépêche du Midi the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau, emphasizing “having obtained a historic budget (…) of four billion for the three coming years”.
Farmers’ demonstration in Berlin, Germany, January 19, 2024 (AFP/Tobias SCHWARZ)
He will visit operators in the Cher region on Saturday afternoon to “discuss their issues”, his office said. Monday, he will be in Vendée on the theme of water in agriculture.
During his press conference on January 16, President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron cited agriculture among the areas where he intended to “accelerate” the “rearmament” of the country.
And he “asked the Minister of the Interior to instruct the prefects to go this weekend to meet farmers” and their unions, “as close as possible to the field”, the Elysée said on Friday.
“One of the first bills” that the new government will present concerns “generational renewal in agriculture,” assured Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
This text, on the menu of the Council of Ministers on January 24, plans to create a new bac+3 level diploma and a one-stop shop to support candidates for installation. The profession was awaiting a more ambitious guiding law.
– “Wick” of the yellow vests –
In this climate of concern, the far right is on the lookout: received on Friday by Gabriel Attal, the president of the RN Jordan Bardella asked him to “decree a state of agricultural emergency” and “to establish economic patriotism for protect our farmers.
Mr. Bardella, also head of the RN list in the European elections, plans to meet farmers from Gironde on Saturday to support their demands.
The party “seeks to blow on the embers of the anger and despair of farmers, but it is only electoral opportunism for the European elections”, criticizes Marc Fesneau, castigating these RN elected officials who “do not work in Parliament European and therefore do not defend farmers on a daily basis.
Jérémy Decerle, Renaissance MEP and former president of Young Farmers, “does not underestimate the movement, the distress of farmers”. “But I’m not convinced that this will end in impressive moves, because I don’t believe that the government’s commitment is off the mark.”
The former breeder and ex-Renaissance MP Jean-Baptiste Moreau is more worried: “There is something that has been boiling for a long time at the base” and which could “end up in violence”.
For political scientist Eddy Fougier, “the government is very afraid of rekindling the fuse of the ‘yellow vests’ and of a shift of part of the agricultural world towards the RN which is structured around a punitive anti-ecology credo”. According to him, the FNSEA’s message to the government “is to say ‘I’m holding them for the moment, but be careful it could spill over'”.
© 2024 AFP
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