A thousand tractors are already in the streets of Brussels, Thursday February 1, for a demonstration by farmers from several countries, on the sidelines of a summit of leaders of the Twenty-Seven.
Information to remember
⇒ Hundreds of tractors expected in Brussels for the EU summit
⇒ France wants to launch the “simplification” project of the CAP
⇒ 91 people arrested after an intrusion in Rungis
Farmers’ anger invites itself to the European summit
The blockades of farmers do not weaken on Thursday in France, in particular around the capital where the police maintain the protection of the Rungis market while Emmanuel Macron goes to Brussels where the European agricultural crisis is taking hold. margin of a summit of the Twenty-seven.
The French President must meet before 10 a.m. with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on the subject of the “future of European agriculture”, announced the Elysée, before this extraordinary European Summit devoted to the budget of the EU and the aid to be given to Ukraine. A thousand tractors arrived in Brussels on Thursday for a demonstration by farmers from several countries in the European Quarter, on the sidelines of a summit of leaders of the Twenty-Seven.
A vast coalition of businesses calls to “guarantee” the implementation of the Green Deal
Launched on Thursday, Business for a Better Tomorrow, a broad coalition of European businesses, has set itself the mission of defending the environmental and social transition in view of the European election next June, in a context of growing mistrust of European standards. .
“Transform or collapse: this is the dilemma that society and businesses face due to climate change,” asserts Business for a Better Tomorrow in its manifesto published Thursday and punctuated by 22 proposals intended for political leaders to obtain “a regulatory framework more favorable to companies with a positive social and environmental impact.
91 people arrested after an intrusion in Rungis
A total of 91 people were arrested Wednesday after an intrusion by angry farmers into warehouses at the wholesale market in Rungis, south of Paris, said Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez.
A “red line was crossed” with this “intrusion attempt” which was “quickly foiled” by the police, added the Paris police prefect during a press conference. In total, 91 people were arrested and “will be placed in police custody”, continued Laurent Nuñez. A previous report from the Créteil public prosecutor’s office reported 79 people in police custody “for damage to the property of others during a meeting and participation in a group formed with a view to preparing damage to property”.
France wants to launch the CAP “simplification” project
French Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau called on Wednesday in Brussels to quickly “simplify” the procedures of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the complexity of which the sector criticizes, promising proposals with other member states.
“We cannot have a CAP that is so complex and incomprehensible, sometimes both for our administrations and our farmers. We need to resolutely commit to the path of simplification,” he told the press. . As agricultural protests intensify in France in unison with other countries, he met in Brussels with his Belgian counterpart, MEPs, and the European Commissioners for the Internal Market and Agriculture.
No “pretext to go back on the ecological transition”, reaffirms Béchu
The Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu reaffirmed on Wednesday that there could be no “pretext to go back on the ecological transition”, during his wishes to those involved in ecology and territories.
“We must be very firm on our ambitions and our convictions, but be very flexible and very pragmatic on how to achieve them. It is a line that I have held since my arrival and that I will always hold,” explained the minister, in an allusion to the environmental concessions made to the agricultural world, in crisis.
In Lyon, the ultra-right tries to piggyback on the mobilization of farmers
“More money for farmers, less for migrants”: it took less than a week for the ultra-right from Lyon to harness the anger of farmers and put forward its “rooted” ideals.
The logo of the Remparts identity group was overturned on social networks, as a reminder of the agricultural unions’ “we walk on our heads” campaign. Their accounts circulated the slogan “no country without peasants”, then images of an action carried out on Sunday, with the deployment of a banner “ours before others” on a bridge. Until then, the small group heir to Génération Identitaire (dissolved in 2021) rather focused its attacks on “immigration”, “woke ideology”, the ultra-left and “the scum”.