The government and the National Rally are arguing over the defense of farmers


The Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, and the president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, each displayed their support on Saturday for the farmers, some of whom are still blocking a highway in the southwest. Agriculture is “an absolutely major subject (…) which I take very seriously”, immediately affirmed the new head of government, during an exchange with French people organized in Saint-Laurent-d’Agny in the Rhône.

Referring to agriculture as an “opportunity” and a “pride” for France, he notably promised to “make life easier” for farmers by reducing “red tape”. Almost at the same time, the president of the RN, Jordan Bardella, head of the list in the European elections of June 9, was on the wine-growing lands of Médoc. He denounced “Macron’s Europe” which wants, according to him, “the death of our agriculture” put in competition “with agricultural products which come from the ends of the world, which do not respect any of the ever harsher and ever more stringent standards. heavy burdens imposed on French farmers.

In France, as elsewhere in Europe, farmer demonstrations have been increasing in recent weeks. Increased charges, delays in payment of agricultural subsidies, ban on pesticides authorized elsewhere, feeling of being crushed, in the name of ecological transition, by standards… the reasons for anger are multiple, but the protest actions remain localized . In Occitania, farmers have been blocking the A64 motorway near Carbonne (Haute-Garonne), near Toulouse since Thursday evening. A delegation of farmers is received this afternoon by the regional prefect.

“Blow on the embers”

The government is worried to see the movement of anger gaining momentum a month before the opening of the Agricultural Show (from February 24 to March 3 in Paris) and as the European elections approach. While Gabriel Attal was in the Rhône and the Minister of the Economy in the Marne, the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, was commissioned in Cher where he visited a dairy farm. He then went to a “working meeting with professional agricultural organizations” at the Vierzon sub-prefecture.

He told AFP that the RN was seeking “to blow on the embers of farmers’ anger and despair”. “But it’s just electoral opportunism for the European elections,” according to him. Gabriel Attal is due to meet Monday evening with the leaders of the allied unions FNSEA and Young Farmers. The prefects were instructed, at the request of the Élysée, “to go this weekend to meet farmers” and their unions, “as close as possible to the field”.

The prefectures contacted by AFP stressed that appointments had been made, or that meetings had already taken place, for example in Eure on Saturday between prefect Simon Babre and poultry breeders during a trade fair in Évreux . The prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Françoise Souliman, also met with agricultural union organizations on Saturday morning, explaining to AFP that this exchange would “help feed the flow of information” to Paris.

The president of Young Farmers asks “that we ease the constraints”

On Europe 1 Saturday, the president of Young Farmers Arnaud Gaillot asked “that we reduce the constraints” on agriculture, particularly on the environmental level. The government must present a bill on January 24 to promote succession in agriculture, which notably plans to create a one-stop shop to welcome candidates for installation. The profession imagined a more ambitious law.

“What we need is to remove all the obstacles that prevent (young people) today from settling down and to facilitate transmission,” said Gabriel Attal. Former breeder and ex-Renaissance MP Jean-Baptiste Moreau expressed concern to AFP: “There is something that has been boiling for a long time at the base” and which, according to him, could “end up in violence”.





Source link -74