Ten days before the Agricultural Show, the FNSEA and other agricultural unions are putting pressure on the government to obtain concrete progress. Matignon and the Elysée open their doors to them.
“We have to speed up.” The message and warning launched by Arnaud Rousseau, president of the first agricultural union, last Sunday were heard by the government. Gabriel Attal is due to receive the FNSEA and the Young Farmers in Matignon this Tuesday, February 13, around 4:30 p.m. The meeting will take place in the presence of the two ministers in charge of Agriculture: Marc Fesneau involved in the management of this crisis since the first blockages, and Agnès Pannier-Runacher just appointed to the position as delegate minister.
The objective of the meeting? Prove to the unions that the commitments made are kept and that the measures are moving forward while Arnaud Rousseau has warned of the resumption of mobilizations in the absence of concrete progress before the Salon de l’Agriculture, which opens on February 24. The Prime Minister wants in particular to reassure farmers about the future bill which, according to an executive officer cited by Europe 1, will be well presented before the opening of the annual Show. If these guarantees should go in the direction of the unions, it is not on the bill that the unions are most pressing. They recognize that a delay is necessary to put together a new text, but they expect concrete measures on the ground by then.
Representatives of the agricultural world are therefore seeking to put pressure on the government ten days after the lifting of the blockages and it seems to be working. While the boss of the FNSEA regretted that no ministerial meeting had taken place since the end of the farmers’ demonstrations, Gabriel Attal opened his door to the unions. But he is not the only one. Emmanuel Macron will also receive the main trade union organizations.
Unions at Macron before the Agricultural Show
The parade of agricultural unions is due to begin this Wednesday, February 14 at the Elysée with the reception by the Head of State of the Peasant Confederation and the Rural Coordination. “We [jugeons] insufficient the French level to provide solutions to this crisis, which for us is largely a matter of Europe since agricultural policy depends on Europe. […] We have a lot [de revendications, ndlr] to transmit to him”, affirmed Véronique Le Floc’h, president of the Rural Coordination on BFMTV. Among the demands, one concerns the extension of the “agricultural exception” at the global level to “remove agriculture from the World Trade Organization”.
Emmanuel Macron will also receive the FNSEA and the Young Farmers next week before the opening of the Salon de l’Agriculture. Each organization should be received individually and in the presence of Marc Fesneau. If the agenda suggests that the meetings with the Head of State are organized to respond to the crisis, the Elysée recalls that it is customary to receive representatives of the agricultural world a few days before the establishment of the Show annual.