Emmanuel Macron was forced to cancel, this Friday, February 23, the major debate planned to try to appease the anger of the agricultural world at the opening of the Agricultural Show, in the face of strong opposition from the main unions in the sector.
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THE ” great debate » turns into a fiasco even before the opening of the Agricultural Show. No one will sit on Saturday on the dozens of chairs that had been installed this Friday afternoon on a “ ring » normally dedicated to agricultural competitions, but specially designed for this great agricultural debate, indicates Raphaël Dévolvéfrom the RFI political service.
THE French president was in fact forced to cancel the discussions which were planned within the framework of the Agricultural Show, which starts on Saturday February 24. The idea of a major debate, on the model of those organized at the time of the yellow vest crisis, came to an end, as the mention the day before of an invitation from the environmentalist collective Earth Uprisings, even quickly canceled, the farmers bristled.
President Macron, with an appetite for this discussion format, has therefore faced the obvious: the invitation to the Earth Uprisings, the backpedaling of the Élysée and above all the anger and boycott of the big unions, made the exercise completely useless. The risks of overflow were also very significant. So, in a post on X Friday late afternoon, Emmanuel Macron sent a message to once again review the conditions of his presence at the event: “ Agricultural unions […] had wanted a “debate” open. They are now demanding its cancellation. Of which act. »
Since day one, I have been committed to supporting farmers and the agricultural and food sovereignty of France.
From the start of the current crisis, I asked the government to provide concrete responses with methodical monitoring. This is what is happening.…
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 23, 2024
A meeting with agricultural unions
Despite everything, Emmanuel Macron has planned to meet the unions on Saturday morning, before the traditional inauguration of the Agricultural Show by the President of the Republic. “ I will invite all the agricultural unions tomorrow morning before the official opening of the show. I will be there to open it and will contact all those who want to exchange as I do every year », added the president on X. A show which begins with these rather serious snubs for the executive, and whose atmosphere promises to be particularly tense this year.
Read alsoThe agricultural show: a little-studied media and political ritual
On the side of agricultural unions, The reactions were quick to pour in. ” That’s very good news », Reacted on France Info one of the vice-presidents of the majority agricultural union FNSEA, Luc Smessaert. “ We had already told him that we didn’t need a typical debate “yellow vests”. Above all, we needed a President of the Republic to come and tell French farmers : “We support you,” he continued. Friday evening, the president of the union, Arnaud Rousseau, then declared on BFMTV that the FNSEA will respond to “ the republican invitation » by Emmanuel Macron at the Salon.
“ The President of the Republic is expected first of all on what he will announce, on the very concrete expectations that farmers have and on the vision that he wants to convey. I will be there tomorrow morning at the invitation of the President of the Republic “, he confirmed. The president of Rural Coordination, the second largest French agricultural union, Véronique Le Floc’h, also assured AFP that she accepted this meeting with the president, adding simply: ” If he can come home! “.
Tractor parade in Paris
“ The president gave us a huge arm of honor yesterday [jeudi avec les Soulèvements de la Terre] so what we’re waiting for now is for him to announce things », Commented to AFP Vincent Bouvrain, a farmer in Seine-et-Marne, in the Parisian demonstration co-organized Friday with the Young Farmers (JA).
And in fact, it was enough for the Élysée to mention the presence of the Earth Uprisings – ecologists known for their radical fight against intensive agriculture and which the government vainly tried to dissolve – to reignite the fuse of agricultural anger which seemed to have been falling for three weeks. A ” communication error », According to the Élysée.
This Friday afternoon, ahead of the Show, several tractors paraded through Paris. A procession of fourteen vehicles and hundreds of demonstrators arrived at nightfall in front of the Porte de Versailles exhibition center, where the event is being held. Some of them have also planned to stay camped near the location for the night. The capital welcomed another procession of tractors during the day, which parked for several hours in the heart of the capital, behind the Invalides monument.
(And with AFP)