Christiane Lambert, perched on a coffee table, silenced a few hecklers starting the aperitif, and smoldered with her gaze the fifteen deputies facing her, Wednesday 1is March, at the International Agricultural Show in Paris. The president of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA) has sweet words in her mouth: in recent times, parliamentarians have served the union king of the chambers of agriculture well. She congratulates a few deputies by name, from left to right, smiles for the photo with clusters of elected officials from all sides. Grégoire de Fournas, deputy of the National Rally (RN) and winegrower in the Médoc, will not approach.
In January, another photo damaged the relationship between the RN and the FNSEA: that of Sébastien Chenu, RN vice-president of the National Assembly, all smiles with Michel-Edouard Leclerc, the favorite boss of the French, and hated by the unions farmers, who accuse him of strangling the profession. The meeting took place at a key moment: the examination of a bill on relations between distributors and suppliers, an extension of the so-called EGalim 2 law. Strongly supported by the industrial lobby and all the agricultural unions, the proposed law extends the threshold for resale at a loss, the framework for promotions and rebalances commercial negotiations between large retailers and suppliers. All winter, Michel-Edouard Leclerc warned, in the media, against the risk of inflation which would result from the text. And sought political allies in the opposition, meeting La France insoumise and the RN. Mixed success: the two groups abstained on the bill, approved by all the other benches.
When someone talks to him about agriculture, Sébastien Chenu, MP for the North, speaks “transmission of agricultural businesses, digital and international issues”then follows on from Michel-Edouard Leclerc’s speech: “No distributor will be able to support 10% increases on products! What interests me is what room for maneuver is left for consumers. » He does not say “neither ally nor enemy” the Chairman of the Leclerc Centers Strategic Committee.
“They were fooled by Leclerc”
The Chenu-Leclerc photograph was ” very bad “ perceived by the agricultural world, assures Christiane Lambert at World. “They got tricked by Leclerc, who was looking for allies at all costs. » She is due to meet, Friday March 3, Jordan Bardella, the president of the Lepenist movement, who has planned to spend two days at the Agricultural Show after Marine Le Pen, victim of a domestic accident, had to give up the walkabout. . The FNSEA continues to court the RN before the future joint joint commission likely to limit the impact of the text. The bottom of the air is fresh: food inflation is restoring weight to large retailers, requested by the government to contain the rise.
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