Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is back on the ground. He is this Sunday morning in Indre-et-Loire (Center) to visit a farm and maintain dialogue, in a still tense context with farmers, despite Friday’s announcement of emergency measures.
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Faced with the pressure which does not seem to weaken and the threats of blockade of the capital tomorrow Mondaythe Prime Minister returned to the farmers.
He came against the advice of his advisors, the Prime Minister confided to the farmers met this morning. Gabriel Attal affirms it: there is no question of remaining locked in his office to prepare his general policy declaration which he will deliver on Tuesday; he wants to be as close as possible to peasant distress.
Indeed, there was a debate about the fact that I came this morning, because part of my team told me, ‘you have your general policy declaration on Tuesday, you have to stay in your office to work on it, etc. ‘. And I told them ‘no, I want to go out into the field, even if it’s difficult, even if I get yelled at, even if there are a lot of expectations and anger’, because I don’t want to not lose this thread of dialogue, I will always dialogue. On the ground, at the national level, there is ongoing dialogue with your representatives. We will continue to exchange. My wish is to move forward. And I think that the first thing to move forward is actually to change your state of mind, that’s what I tried to tell you. Then, you wait, and this is normal, for concrete actions. I announced a first series on Friday, while saying that it is only the beginning. And so, we will continue day after day, week after week, to move forward. »
Gabriel Attal: “My wish is to move forward”
Clever communication exercise by the head of government, but this impromptu trip will undoubtedly not have reassured farmers, underlines Aurélien Devernoix, from the RFI political service. Notably because Gabriel Attal has not announced new concrete measures. He stuck to his promises: to study the question of farmers’ salaries and pensions, to negotiate with Europe the question of fallow land, to fight against unfair competition.
The Prime Minister is also well aware of this: during a brief speech at midday, he recognized that the first measures announced on Friday have not yet met the expectations of the agricultural world and promised new ones in the coming weeks.
A delay which is not due to chance: because if the pressure is strong today, it could become untenable with the big meeting planned in a month: the Paris agricultural show, likely to turn into epicenter of peasant anger.
Read alsoCrisis in the agricultural world: European policies in the crosshairs
Friday, during a first trip to Haute-Garonne, he announced a first set of measures, received with reservation by the profession’s unions.
The FNSEA and Young Farmers of the Greater Paris Basin unions announced on Saturday a “siege of the capital for an indefinite period” from Monday at 2 p.m., even if the national authorities of the two organizations have not yet decided on the continuation of the movement of anger from their profession at the level of the entire country.
Read alsoSanctions, diesel, Mercosur: what Gabriel Attal announced to French farmers
Anger also in Belgium
The main agricultural union in Wallonia called for protest actions everywhere in the south of the country yesterday Saturday. And new actions were announced for this Sunday, reported our special envoy to Namur,Laure Broulard.
Demonstration in Namur by angry farmers: the demands are the same as those of French farmers
The union at the origin of the demonstration, the Walloon Federation of Agriculture, calls for a profound revision of the CAP, the Common Agricultural Policy with reciprocity of standards for imported products, and the suspension of compulsory fallows, although intended to slow down soil depletion. And we assure that in Belgium, the mobilization is only just beginning.
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