“The expectation is very high,” warns the president of the FNSEA before the Agricultural Show

2024-02-19 09:10:53

By PL-B.

Published 42 minutes ago, Updated 19 minutes ago

“The anger is still there,” warned Arnaud Rousseau this Monday, February 19. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP

More than two weeks after the end of the blockades, union representatives – first and foremost Arnaud Rousseau – are increasing the pressure so that the State’s commitments are kept.

The organizers of the Agricultural Show, which opens Saturday in Paris, hope that this 60th edition will be a “belle fête”, spared from the demonstrations. But the agricultural world is still boiling with demands and anger. And a few days before the opening of this legendary Parisian exhibition fair – which is to be held from February 24 to March 3 – their expectations are higher than ever. There is no doubt that these will be on the agenda of the discussions of the meeting scheduled for this Tuesday afternoon between the unions and the President of the Republic.

“The anger is still there. It is not because the farmers have returned to the farms that the subject is over”confirmed Arnaud Rousseau, the president of the FNSEA this Monday morning, on Europe 1/CNews. However, he assured that the role of his union was now to be “in the time of proposals and the search for solutions”. What if the State is reluctant to find any? He warns: “The farmers will then realize that we are making fun of them, and I imagine that the actions will resume”. Before calling back: “in any case, at the moment we are in, we have no sense of hindsight”.

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“It won’t be a show like any other”

As for whether the 2024 Agricultural Show will be an edition like the others, the union official estimated that «non». “The expectation is very high, so it will not be a show like any other. It is a room where the President of the Republic will first have to say what he intends to do, to hear the annoyance (…) and no one imagines that he can, like every year, parade through the aisles without having had a strong, clear statement and listen to the agricultural world”he said, believing that Emmanuel Macron could not ignore this very strong expectation. “In any case, we’ll tell him again tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday, Editor’s note)”he further assured.

But there is no question of spoiling the party either, assures the president of the FNSEA, who points out that the show, “It’s a year of work for those who organize it”with “people who have been taking part in competitions for months for their animals who are extremely proud of what they do and who are right to be proud of what they do”with “a general agricultural competition which will be held whatever happens”. “Let us not confuse what is the life of the Show, the promotion of our products and our animals with what is the political moment which is an expected moment, which will not be a moment like the others and on for which there is a high level of requirement and for which we expect very concrete answers”he said.