Latest update on farmer protests across France
Farming unions are planning further action from next week, including the blocking of food freight
Farmers say that since their protests last winter, not much has changed,(a January protest seen here)
Obatala-photography/Shutterstock
Farmers in France are planning more protests from Monday, November 18, in a bid to maintain pressure on the government after what they see as continued inaction.
Farming unions the FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs previously promised to mount more action in late November, following the end of their working season.
On Wednesday, November 13, the president of the Fédération nationale des syndicats d'exploitants agricoles (FNSEA) Arnaud Rousseau called for a “national mobilisation” from November 18 to “draw the attention of the public authorities and ask for support” ahead of the G20 summit in Brazil.
The Coordination rurale, the country's second-largest farming union, has also promised “an agricultural revolt”, starting on November 19, with a “blockade of food freight”.
Similarly, the Confédération paysanne, the country's third-largest farmers' union, also is planning action this week against “free trade agreements” and what it calls “land grabbing by energy companies”.
The unions have said that a possible agreement at the G20 summit in Brazil could open the door to hundreds of thousands of tonnes of meat, poultry, maize, and sugar produced “under unacceptable conditions”, including the “use of growth-promoting antibiotics, lack of traceability and active plant protection substances banned in France”.
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What action is planned and where?
The FNSEA has called for action “outside prefectures and on roundabouts in all departments…to draw the attention of the public authorities”, from November 18. Yet, Mr Rousseau added that “we don’t want to annoy the public”, and that the action is unlikely to “target motorways”.
He said that the action would be “responsible” and without violence, and would ideally end in mid-December, “so as not to hold the Christmas period hostage”, as this is a time “when our products are consumed”. Yet, action could resume in January, he said.
Véronique Le Floc'h, president of the Coordination rurale, told FranceInfo that “large-scale” action would be taken from November 19 ‘in Bouches-du-Rhône, Dordogne, Hautes-Alpes…and everywhere else”.
“On {November] 19, we will be in many departments, especially in the Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions in front of the prefectures to obtain answers and a visit from the minister of agriculture”.
She added that on Wednesday, November 20, “we will be going to our strategic points”, and “freight is likely to be blocked”.
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Slow promises
The farmers say that since their protests last winter, not much has changed, with the government having made few moves to help, and many farmers struggling severely.
Challenges include a poor wheat harvest, a poor grape harvest (a 23% reduction in crop), waterlogged soil, and diseases including epizootic haemorrhagic disease, bluetongue, and bird flu.
Farmers say that promises made by the previous government have been slow to materialise, and that the current government has not been much better.
Apart from the abolition of the tax on non-road diesel, they say that this summer’s shock dissolution of the Assembléé Nationale halted all other progress. Similarly, they say that the loi d’orientation agricole (LOA), which was passed by MPs in May, is not set to be examined by the Senate until January.
Ineffective measures?
In its defence, the government states that it has introduced a number of measures to help, including an emergency fund of €75 million for the sheep industry affected by bluetongue, and state-guaranteed loans to help farmers with cash flow.
However, even the new Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard admitted that these measures have “not yet been widely effective”, speaking to Ouest France last month.
Mr Rousseau, from the FNSEA, told France Inter that “the Minister has announced cash loans, but we don't know the timing, the rate or the duration” of them.
