This Tuesday, January 30, farmers begin their second day of blocking strategic routes around Paris, determined to show that they can hold out for several days if the “new measures” unveiled during the day by the government disappoint again.
Information to remember
⇒ 200 tractors returned to the road towards the Rungis market
⇒ Blockades and processions are planned everywhere in France
⇒ “New measures” will be taken in favor of farmers this Tuesday
The convoy to the Rungis international market
Farmers are beginning their second day of blocking strategic routes around Paris. Thus, this Tuesday morning, a convoy of some 200 tractors took to the road towards the national interest market (MIN) of Rungis, the largest in the world, which it intends to invest in the afternoon, at call from Rural Coordination (CR).
The convoy stopped shortly after 6 a.m., near Bessines-sur-Gartempe (Haute-Vienne), blocked by the police on the A20 motorway. The farmers still had more than 340 kilometers to travel to Rugis. According to information from BFMTVthe farmers were finally able to take the national 20, parallel, to continue their journey.
Details of blockages
Some 150 farmers with their tractors, coming from Haute-Garonne, Gers, Tarn and Ariège plan to block access to Toulouse airport this Tuesday morning, according to the general secretary of the National Federation of Trade Unions. farmers (FDSEA) Haute-Garonne, Luc Mesbah.
In Mayenne, the FDSEA and the Young Farmers (JA) are threatening to wall off state services using tires, such as the Laval tax center and the sub-prefecture. They also plan to plant hedges in front of the administrative city and the public finance center of Laval.
Also in Corsica, a demonstration is planned for 10 a.m. in Ajaccio, with a procession of tractors driving in step to the prefecture in the city center.
A sign of a certain excitement, the Drôme prefecture has asked the inhabitants of the department “not to stockpile food”, ensuring that “the main supermarkets in the Drôme remain properly supplied with food and fuel “.
Negotiations with the government
“New measures” will be taken in favor of farmers, government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot assured this Monday after the Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, is expected on the subject during his general policy declaration delivered this Tuesday.
Friday January 26, the head of government had already announced ten new measures, including increased compensation for breeders whose cattle were affected by epizootic hemorrhagic disease and the abandonment of the increase in the tax on non-road diesel (GNR ).
However, the demonstrators say they expect something other than “measurements” in a France which has lost three quarters of its operators in 50 years and is increasingly resorting to imports. As a reminder, one in two chickens consumed in France comes from elsewhere, like 60% of fruits.
“We must go further,” reacted the president of the first French agricultural union (FNSEA) Arnaud Rousseau. The latter was received this Monday evening by the Prime Minister, in the company of the president of the JA, Arnaud Gaillot, with a view to outlining a way out of the crisis. The participants did not speak at the end.
Not invited, the minority union Confédération paysanne (left) calls on other organizations to take with it mainly “two measures”: “the cessation of free trade agreements and the immediate suspension of all negotiations”, as well as “the formal ban on the purchase of agricultural products below their cost price.
Exchanges with the European Commission
The battle will also be fought at the European level. Emmanuel Macron will meet Thursday in Brussels with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, about this crisis.
The exchange will take place on the sidelines of an extraordinary European Summit devoted to the EU budget and aid to Ukraine on which the 27 failed to reach an agreement in December due to the veto from Hungary.
It will focus on the trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), rejected by a large part of farmers, fallow obligations and the arrival of Ukrainian products in the Union.
The Head of State “spoke on several occasions to demonstrate his very clear opposition to the conclusion of the agreement with the President of the European Commission”, underlined the Elysée. And, according to the French presidency, negotiations with Mercosur have already been interrupted due to France’s opposition.