After several days of mobilization, French farmers continue to put pressure on the government and implemented new blockades on Monday around Paris as well as several large cities, such as Lyon. The government promises new measures in favor of the peasant world.
All around the French capital, traffic is disrupted with portions of highways closed a few dozen kilometers from the city, according to the Sytadin website. Paris itself is not blocked, nor the vital market of Rungis (Val-de-Marne) and the Paris airports.
“New measures will be taken tomorrow” in favor of farmers, government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot announced on Monday following the Council of Ministers.
Farmers gathered on the A15 motorway near Argenteuil, north of Paris, on Monday January 29, 2024. [Yoan Valat/EPA – Keystone]
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal received the presidents of the first French agricultural union FNSEA and Young Farmers (JA) on Monday evening, in the presence of Ministers of Agriculture Marc Fesneau and Ministers of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu.
According to a police source, “a little less than 10,000 farmers were mobilized on the ground throughout France” late Monday afternoon, “with nearly 5,000 machines.”
>> Listen to Forum details: French farmers block highways around Paris / Forum / 1 min. / yesterday at 6:00 p.m.
Measures deemed insufficient
The FNSEA had already called on Friday to continue the mobilization after the announcements, considered insufficient, by the Prime Minister, which combine administrative simplification measures, an acceleration of the payment of emergency aid and the cancellation of the increase in the tax on non-road diesel.
“We are waiting for answers from our government and it is giving us a little bone to gnaw on the price of diesel”, judge Monday in La Matinale François Chamot, breeder in Viry and deputy secretary general of the FNSEA in the two Savoies. “We are asking for a lot more simplifications. We are asking for an end to the overtransposition of standards, mainly environmental, because they pile on top of each other and even go so far as to contradict each other,” he adds.
>> Watch the interview with François Chamot in La Matinale:
The guest of La Matinale (video) – François Chamot, French farmer / The guest of La Matinale (video) / 15 min. / yesterday at 07:35
A “siege” of Paris
The branches of the FNSEA and the JA in the Paris region and the north of France had called for a real “siege” of Paris from 2:00 p.m. “for an indefinite period”.
The president of the FNSEA Arnaud Rousseau had nevertheless ruled out a blockage of the Rungis international market, essential for supplying the capital with agricultural products.
Armored vehicles were still deployed to protect the market and restaurateurs feared shortages on the shelves. “If Paris is blocked, 72 hours later, there could be a shortage of products in our establishments”, warns in the 12:30 p.m. the starred chef Thierry Marx, president of the Union of hotel trades and industries and in solidarity with the farmers’ movement .
Paris airports will also not be affected by the protests, the Interior Ministry said.
Faced with threats of new blockages, 15,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed, in particular to prevent the entry of tractors into Paris and large provincial towns.
>> See other images from this day of mobilization: Mobilization of farmers in France / News in video / 2 min. / yesterday at 6:03 p.m.
Unfair competition denounced
Within the French agricultural world, ways out of the crisis are complicated to find, because there is currently no symbolic demand that would lead to a general lifting of camp. The question of unfair competition is nevertheless often raised.
“It is not normal that you are prevented from using certain pesticides”, while “neighboring countries” can use them, admitted Gabriel Attal during a field visit on Sunday.
“There are products arriving that do not at all correspond to production standards. It is therefore on the one hand unfair competition for farmers in our territories, but also a deception towards consumers (…) We are asked to produce with very strict standards, paying attention to biodiversity and the environment and, behind this, we import products that do not correspond at all,” notes François Chamot.
For the farmer, unfair competition also takes the form of decisions related to Ukraine. “What is happening to Ukraine is unfortunate. A war on its territory is horrible and we wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But to support the country, they opened customs to Ukrainian production. Today, a “Every second chicken that arrives in France is Ukrainian. And it’s the same for eggs or cereals,” he explains.
More generally, François Chamot believes that “the peasant malaise” is not only French or European, but global. “It has been underlying for a very long time and it has been brewing. There are factors which trigger it depending on the territories and countries, for various reasons. Today it is exploding in France, where the government has taken the demands for granted as a joke. that we’ve had for months,” he concludes.
>> Also listen to the decryption of Tout un monde:
Angry agricultural Europe / Everyone / 4 min. / yesterday at 08:13
ther/friend with agencies