French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal endeavored, Wednesday February 21, to calm the anger of the peasant world via the rapid implementation of a series of measures and a new Egalim bill aimed at promoting fair remuneration for operators.
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Nearly three weeks after a first action plan, the head of government made a new point as the 60th Agricultural Show that President Emmanuel Macron is due to inaugurate on Saturday at the Porte de Versailles in Paris. “ I am perfectly lucid that our farmers are waiting to see to believe it “, said Gabriel Attal, affirming that “ 100% of files » relating to the 62 commitments made at the end of January were “ open “. Gabriel Attal on Wednesday placed agriculture “ among the fundamental interests ” from the country.
He announced the presentation “ by summer » of a new bill to strengthen Egalim, in particular intended to better regulate the “ price construction » in order to better protect the income of producers. Another announcement from the head of government: the rapid classification of the agricultural production sector among the professions in tension, which will open the way to the employment of foreign personnel in this sector and will facilitate the allocation of visas for foreign seasonal workers in the French farms.
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The Prime Minister reiterated his intention to include the notion of “food sovereignty” in the law and specified that the agricultural orientation bill would arrive in the Senate on March 12, with a view to adoption “ half April “. Recalling the establishment of several emergency funds for sectors in difficulty, Gabriel Attal also assured that “ 99.61% of basic CAP aid » had already been paid to farmers, with the objective of 100% by March 15.
On pesticides, France will abandon the indicator it currently uses to measure the reduction in their use, Nodu, defended by environmental associations, but contested by the majority agricultural union FNSEA and the pesticide industry. It also plans to organize a Solutions Conference between now and April bringing together the State and communities so that the latter can integrate more sustainable and quality products, as well as organic products, into collective catering.
As if he were kicking off the European campaign, Gabriel Attal will place his agricultural measures on a political level, considering that the National Rally, given favorite in the European elections in June, is the ” agricultural wrath vulture ” without “ balance sheet, nor consistency “. “ The RN voted against the CAP (common agricultural policy) in 2019, for it in 2021, and is now against it again », accuses in Le Figaro Gabriel Attal. He says to himself “ ready » to debate with Marine Le Pen on agriculture, but refuses that the Salon, coveted by all political leaders, become “ the jousting hostage » electoral.
Bruno le Maire took stock of the controls carried out by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) and in particular reported non-compliance problems in two European purchasing centers. The Minister of the Economy announced that checks on the French origin of products sold to consumers had already taken place in 1,000 establishments, 372 of them being non-compliant. Emmanuel Macron received the two main agricultural unions, the FNSEA and the Young Farmers (JA), at the Élysée on Tuesday, after meeting last week with the Rural Coordination, the Peasant Confederation and Modef.
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Demonstrations to maintain pressure
Farmers have again demonstrated in various places in recent days, a mobilization on a smaller scale than in January, which saw convoys reach the gates of Paris. Some 70 km of the A62 motorway are closed to traffic between Agen and Montauban due to a blockage by a handful of demonstrators who spread slurry over 200 meters.
Farmers continue to carry out heavy-handed actions in supermarkets, such as in Blagnac, a suburb of Toulouse, where the local section of the FNSEA was to carry out an action from 9 a.m. to label “ products that do not correspond to the standards imposed in France » in a Leclerc.
Actions are already planned during Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the Agricultural Show, the annual showcase of a profession worried about its future – there were 389,000 agricultural operations in France in 2020, a figure in drop of 100,000 over ten years. “ We are calling for actions to raise awareness, we cannot have a normal Agricultural Show as if there had been nothing in recent weeks and everything was going well », declared on TF1 Arnaud Gaillot, the president of the JA.
(With AFP)
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