Farmers will continue “to have actions on the ground”, warns the FNSEA

2024-03-03 15:30:08

While the 60th edition – very eventful – of the Agricultural Show closed its doors on Sunday in Paris, the boss of the FNSEA Arnaud Rousseau was clear: the movement of anger among farmers is far from over. “We will continue to have actions on the ground” because “on the political level, things are clearly not finished,” he declared on the set of “BFM politique” in partnership with Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui in France, regretting “a missed meeting” with the executive during the Agricultural Show, due to the lack of a clear “strategy” from the executive.

Therefore “to think that within two weeks everything will be completed is an error, this will not be the case”, he also warned, announcing that “each department retains the initiative to be able to do a certain number of actions. “The embers are hot”, “nothing is finished”, added the union official.

Because if Arnaud Rousseau judges that in the numerous government announcements over the past month, some “are going in the right direction” – Emmanuel Macron called for agriculture to be recognized “as a major general interest of the nation” – the head of the FNSEA believes that others “are not very clear”. And to indicate that operators expect “very concrete achievements” from the government’s promises while a new law must soon be discussed in the National Assembly. “There are things on which we feel that there is a form of cacophony. For example, the vision on the Green Deal,” he continued, with his sights set on the European Green Deal, which is hotly contested by farmers.

During the same broadcast, a few minutes later, Marc Fesneau responded to the FNSEA by calling for calm. “I have always said that this anger was deep enough not to think that a single measure could resolve the issues,” admitted the Minister of Agriculture on the set of “BFM politique”, adding that he wanted to move forward on the “ different subjects” and “resolve doubts”. But the minister insisted on the need for dialogue rather than punchy actions. “The time for protest has taken place”, and that “the most important thing” is to “continue to sit around the table, to work, to dialogue”, concluded Marc Fesneau.