2024-01-22 17:04:36
UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – While “actions”, like the blocking of the A64, are planned “all week”, the FNSEA and the Young Farmers are expected in Matignon this Monday at 6 p.m., where they will be received by Gabriel Attal.
Five years after the “yellow vests”, are we heading towards a “green vest” movement? The government is put under pressure by the anger of farmers, who plan to mobilize all week, or even beyond, if their demands are not heard.
A first major mission for the brand new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who is due to receive the FNSEA and the Young Farmers this Monday evening. This “Fed up» of the profession is not limited to France, since it is growing almost everywhere in Europe, from the Netherlands to Romania, via Germany. Le Figaro make the point.
“Actions carried out all week”
Arnaud Rousseau, president of the first French agricultural union, the FNSEA, announced Monday on France Inter the launch of farmers’ actions throughout France, calling on the government to hear their “Fed up” and their “anger», before a meeting in Matignon. “I can tell you that from today and throughout the week and for as long as necessary, a certain number of actions will be carried out“, he declared, while several blockages have already taken place in Occitanie.
«The anger that is expressed is not new (…) and what is happening today is the overflow of Franco-French but also European measures that are expected», expressed the president of the FNSEA, maintaining that “what farmers want is to restore a form of dignity to their profession, it is to talk about the questions of income and competitiveness (…) it is the whole subject of the exercise of the profession on a daily basis: how with the over-administration and the European variations of a certain number of rules, we are no longer in line with what is happening».
For Arnaud Rousseau, these actions will concern “each department“. Likewise, the latter confirmed that the “maybe» was raised regarding the FNSEA’s call to demonstrate. “To achieve our goals, violence is not an answer“, he added, in response to a question about several recent violent actions.
Farmers’ unions received this Monday evening by Gabriel Attal
Faced with his first crisis since his appointment on January 11, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal will receive the boss of the FNSEA Arnaud Rousseau and his Young Farmers (JA) counterpart Arnaud Gaillot at 6 p.m. this Monday evening.
Other agricultural organizations (Rural Coordination, Peasant Confederation) also ask to be received. If the government is notnot there», «we could be at the dawn of a big agricultural movement», Declared this Monday the president of Young Farmers, on France 2.
Read alsoFarmers’ movement: Macron and Attal hope to avoid a conflagration of the countryside, five years after the “yellow vests”
“No evacuation” of the blocked A64, says Darmanin
Gérald Darmanin affirmed Monday that he had not asked “evacuation by law enforcement» farmers blocking the A64 motorway between Toulouse and Bayonne. Asked about the actions of farmers mainly in Occitania, on the sidelines of a press conference dedicated to the Olympic torch relay, the Minister of the Interior explained his decision by the fact that there was “no damage on this site» (that of the A64).
This Monday morning, a fire broke out on the A64. “When I arrived this morning on the block (in Carbonne, Haute-Garonne, Editor’s note)malicious people decided to set fire to our straw wall of resistance», said Jérôme Bayle, cattle breeder, who explains having put “all agricultural machinery” as well as “all water reserves» available in order to extinguish the fire, which had not caused “no degradation».
Monday, for the fifth consecutive day, the A64 between Toulouse and Bayonne is cut off to traffic at Carbonne, in Haute-Garonne, 45 km from Toulouse, by farmers who denounce in particular the low level of their income. Motorists traveling on this axis must leave it before the blockade formed by around forty tractors, to return to the highway a little further on.
“Generally fed up” with the profession
«We have too many constraints, we spend one day a week filling out paperwork (…) no financial compensation for the standards in addition», expressed Arnaud Gaillot, the president of Young Farmers. And to specify that “until the answers are provided», his union will continue to support the blockages, particularly in Occitanie. Before launching: “If the government is not there, I’m afraid there will be other gatherings (…) We are not here to cause chaos, but we are in a country where if we doesn’t come to that, it’s complicated to discuss».
A speech shared by the vice-president of the FNSEA, Luc Smessaert, who said he was convinced this Monday that the movements would “take day by day». «In many French departments, the action will expand“, he warned on RMC, while farmers have “tired of broken promises». «Today, elected officials understand and hear us, but we must move from words to actions“, he launched, calling to stop “with this groundswell of decline at the European level».
The government reacts
The first voice from the government to speak on this subject this Monday, Prisca Thévenot reacted to the news this Monday morning “These men and women engaged every day in extremely hard and grueling work (…) express angerconceded the government spokesperson on Europe 1 and CNews. This anger is legitimate, because it is the expression of misunderstandings but also of demands“. If she considers that it is necessary “go further», the Minister Delegate in charge of Democratic Renewal affirmed that the government was not leaving “from a white sheet».
And to recall the measures put in place under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron: the protection of farmers’ remuneration provided for by “the EGAlim 2 law» or even the reform of harvest insurance in 2022. While conceding a lack of legislative monitoring. “Voting for laws is good. To ensure that they apply correctly (…), we must do it», Launched Prisca Thévenot.
The executive wants to accelerate the construction of basins
Visiting Vendée this Monday, the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau showed his desire to accelerate the construction of water reserves, by presenting a fund of 20 million euros intended to improve storage and irrigation efficiency. “The processing times for a certain number of procedures (…) are far too long (…) with some of the petitioners ultimately wanting to discourage farmers“, he lamented.
The construction of additional water reserves to deal with climate change is one of the demands raised during the demonstrations. Qualified as “replacement reserves» by their promoters and “megabasins» by their detractors, these large reservoirs filled by pumping from groundwater are at the heart of a conflict over water use in neighboring Deux-Sèvres.
Opponents denounce a “hoarding» water by large producers, for the benefit of agro-industry and for export, which perpetuates a model called into question by global warming. Agriculture in France is responsible for 58% of national water consumption to irrigate crops or water animals.
Also read: The anger of French farmers spreads and hardens
Golfech nuclear power plant blocked
The very first actions began to be seen on Monday, while access to the Golfech power plant, in Tarn-et-Garonne, was for example blocked this Monday morning by farmers, according to the gendarmerie. In Golfech, “farmers block various access points to the nuclear power plant», indicated the Tarn-et-Garonne gendarmerie, specifying that the prefecture was to hold a press point in the morning.
Another action was also announced in western Occitania, farmers having to “gather around 10 a.m. at the Perpignan-sud tollbooth», according to the Pyrénées-Orientales gendarmerie. Farmers are protesting in particular against rising costs, standards considered excessive and a lack of consideration, all factors which, according to them, penalize their activity.
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