The farmers’ movement is intensifying in France. The road blockage has spread beyond the A64. The Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, is due to meet the president of the FNSEA, the main agricultural union, this Monday, January 22.
From Mayenne to Haute-Garonne, via Loiret, French farmers still make hear their anger. The movement, which began on Thursday January 18 in Toulouse where hundreds of farmers demonstrated, is intensifying France. The ongoing blockage of the A64 motorway, between Toulouse and Tarbes, has inspired others, notably near Montauban on the A20 and at the Castelsarrasin and Castelnaudary motorway exits, reports The Dispatch.
The executive is trying to ease tensions, Emmanuel Macron asked the prefects to speak with farmers who are demanding better consideration from the State. The Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, is traveling to Cher this Saturday, January 20, to meet milk producers. And as the demonstrators requested on Thursday, the president of the federation of farmers’ unions (FNSEA) will finally meet the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, on Monday January 22.
Farmers in the Hautes-Pyrénées are taking action to be heard. Access to the motorway blocked in Tarbes-West and East, action also in the Aure valley pic.twitter.com/2zH5Pt1eRg
— Nlle Rép Pyrénées (@nrpyrenees) January 20, 2024
A national demonstration
These local demonstrations echo a more general movement in Europe and could lead to a large national demonstration, unformed Le Figaro. In the meantime, “we are going to organize a regional event probably next week in Occitanie”, announced to the daily, Cécile Imart, head of the FNSEA in Tarn.
Like their German or Polish counterparts, farmers are demanding the urgent release of the envelopes promised by the State and the rehabilitation of the consumption tax exemption rate on energy products. The gradual elimination of this tax advantage in 2024 would force them to pay more for the diesel used by their agricultural machinery.