Pesticides, breeding or pensions: the majority agricultural unions FNSEA and Young Farmers (JA) presented, Tuesday March 19, “five blocks” of priorities to the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, from whom they expect very quickly ” a calendar “ And “arbitrations” to get out of the agricultural crisis.
At the end of this two-hour interview, during which they shared “annoyance” farmers and welcomed listening “very attentive” of the Prime Minister, a new meeting has been set for next Monday in Matignon, Arnaud Rousseau, president of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA), announced to Agence France-Presse. “We told him that there were five large blocks on which we were not progressing at the right pace” on livestock issues, the question of water and pesticides, competitiveness, cash flow and pensions, declared Mr. Rousseau, accompanied by his JA counterpart, Arnaud Gaillot.
“The land can no longer wait” and Marc Fesneau, who will close the FNSEA congress on March 28, “cannot come without very concrete measures”, argued the president of the FNSEA at the end of the meeting, in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Marc Fesneau, his delegate minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, and the Minister of Transition ecological and territorial cohesion, Christophe Béchu. The Prime Minister “gave us a meeting on Monday evening to say “we are making progress here at Matignon, and we are able to tell you what we have done wrong””reported Mr. Rousseau.
Prioritization effort
This meeting in Matignon was held after the postponement of a meeting planned for this week with the president, Emmanuel Macron, which was to close the sequence of peasant anger and mobilizations organized throughout France since January – until the Salon de l agriculture, where the head of state was widely booed. Emmanuel Macron will receive the unions “when all the work carried out by the government will allow the president to conclude the sequence”specified the Elysée.
“Today, so that we can resume our agricultural activity and somehow consider that the crisis is behind us, people must see (…) water projects, see technical solutions on phytosanitary products, see cash flow problems resolved, see unique controls put in place”listed Arnaud Rousseau.
To move forward, the majority unions have made an effort to prioritize, as requested by the executive. The five main axes, presented to Gabriel Attal, concern “breeding”with a launch considered sluggish of the announced breeding plan; “the means of production”notably water storage and pesticide use; ” competitiveness “, with tax measures requested for breeders; of the “cash flow measures”with some “subsidized loans” by banks or a ” accompaniement “ for companies requiring restructuring, and finally the subject of “the dignity of the profession”with an expected clarification on agricultural pensions.
Concerning water storage, an operator with a water retention project must know whether or not he can initiate work this year, demanded Mr. Rousseau. On the subject of pesticides, can we expect exemptions in France for products used elsewhere in Europe? he asked, also welcoming the existence of a future “proposed law on phytosanitary products”.
Actions still carried out in France
In an interview with Echoes published Tuesday, Arnaud Rousseau calls for tax measures, suggesting for example to increase from 20% to 50% the reduction enjoyed by farmers on the tax on undeveloped land, which “would cost around 150 million to public finances” according to him.
“We are neither more nor less on the Prime Minister’s sixty-two proposals”affirmed Arnaud Rousseau, repeating to expect arbitrations within a tight deadline, while the majority union closes its congress on March 28, on the eve of the presentation of the agricultural orientation bill to the Council of Ministers.
The protest movement has subsided since the beginning of February, but actions are still carried out sporadically. On Monday, farmers demonstrated near Toulouse to protest against a delay in payment of European aid; Tuesday morning, members of the FNSEA du Nord dumped straw in front of the premises of the regional directorate for the environment, planning and housing in Gravelines and hung a banner proclaiming “No ecological transition without viable agriculture! ».