The strike in France that has been going on for several days has been suspended. After Gabriel Attal’s announcements, both farmers’ trade unions announced their common will to suspend the blockades and switch to a new way of operating.
Let us remind you: strikes in France started a few days ago and are becoming more severe day by day. The farmers’ trade union FNSEA presented the government with a list of demands, including better enforcement of the law aimed at protecting procurement prices. Protesters also called for the maintenance of diesel tax breaks for agricultural vehicles, the immediate payment of EU agricultural subsidies, guarantees of health and climate-related insurance payments, and immediate aid for winemakers and organic farmers.
After more than two weeks on French streets, farmers are suspending their protest.
What has the government proposed to French farmers?
All thanks to the agreement they reached with the government. Emmanuel Macron also declared to start negotiations regarding them in the European Commission.
So far, however, farmers have managed to obtain several assurances.
The first of the announced solutions concerns the inclusion of the principle of sovereignty in law.
We want to be sovereign, sovereign in cultivation, sovereign in harvesting and sovereign in giving food, explained Gabriel Attal. – We will include the goal of sovereignty in law. We will do this with farmers based on clear indicators identified with them. We will include agriculture in the rural code as the basic interest of the nation, explained the head of government.
The Prime Minister also clearly set goals for the future. One of them is to get to know the farmer’s profession better, so as to understand its specificity and avoid similar misunderstandings in the future, and at the same time be able to consciously support it. How is this to be done? Attal has promised an annual report on food sovereignty, the first of which will be produced before the February agricultural exhibition. He also announced a law on disturbing neighborhood order, which will be placed on the Senate agenda as soon as possible to protect farmers from their neighbors.
Farmers can count on support of EUR 150 million
The government’s goal is to increase farmers’ profitability.
We must transfer this fight to Europe, he said.
At the same time, he announced that EUR 150 million would be allocated for fiscal and social support for the sector. Gabriel Attal also announced an increase in exemption thresholds in the case of agricultural inheritance.
Another task the French government sets itself is to “give value” to domestic food. A change in the product labeling system has been announced.
It is a matter of transparency for the consumer, justice and truth for farmers. The idea is to achieve 50% sustainable and high-quality products and 20% organic products on our shelves, said the Prime Minister.
France says no to Mercosur
An important decision was also made regarding the Mercosur Treaty.
There is no question of France accepting this treaty, the Prime Minister points out.
Later in his speech, Attal emphasized that he wanted to prevent the import of fruit and vegetables treated with the pesticide thiacloprid into France.
In France, we decide to ban the use of this pesticide before Europe, he pointed out.
The government also announced the launch of an “evaluation mission” on the Egalim Act.
We will launch a mission to assess the Egalim framework, its application and the annual negotiation framework, says Bruno Le Maire after Gabriel Attal announced earlier the aim of strengthening the Egalim law to protect farmers’ wages. The income of our farmers is the dignity of our farmers, said Le Maire.
The first two laws, known as Egalim 1 and 2, were adopted in 2018 and 2021 and were intended to prevent producers from bearing the brunt of the fierce price war between supermarkets, on the one hand, and agricultural industry distributors and suppliers, on the other.
The Minister of Economy also announced the intensification of the fight against fraud in mass distribution.
In the coming days, all major supermarket chains will be inspected, without exception, he assured. – This audit will focus on compliance with the Egalim law, which aims to protect farmers’ wages. No agreement between distributors and manufacturers, including distributors’ brands, will escape the control of repression against fraud, he declared.
He also added that the government anticipates over 10,000 inspections of products of French origin. If it turns out that products marked as French do not come from France, fraudsters must expect penalties of up to 10% of their turnover.
A product bearing a French origin label or the tricolor flag must actually come from France, adds La Marie.
French Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau also spoke, stressing the need to support sectors to ensure competitive conditions to enable farmers to fight on equal terms.
During the conference, the topic of Ukraine was also discussed.
We have a duty of solidarity with Ukraine, but unconditional opening has destabilized some sectors, explained Marc Fesneau. – In the case of Ukraine, as I said, we are moving forward in terms of creating protective clauses, especially with regard to poultry. We will have to raise the grain issue as part of the negotiations that begin, he said.
The protest has been suspended!
Frédéric Arnoult, vice-president of FNSEA in Île-de-France, commented on the government conference.
We feel that there is a will on the part of the Prime Minister, the situation is becoming clearer, he admitted. – But not everything is still clear, especially in the ministers’ statements. There are a few things that seem surprising to us, but we are waiting for details, he added.
Following the government’s announcements, trade unionists announced the suspension of roadblocks in France.
We have decided that at this point, given everything that has been announced (…), we will change the way we operate. We call on our networks to suspend blockades and undertake a new form of mobilization, said Arnaud Gaillot, president of Jeunes Agriulteurs. – However, we expect a very quick written notification containing the commitments of the executive authority.
Farmers assure that this is not the end yet.
No one should think that this is the end of the evening, said Arnaud Rousseau, head of the FNSEA. – The movement is transforming. We’ll see if these ads are fake. If we realize that this is just a trick, the effect will be disastrous, he warned.
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