Blockades are rising and traffic resumes on certain highways on Saturday, but farmers, far from being satisfied with the government’s announcements, are determined to continue the movement. The FNSEA and Young Farmers (JA) from the greater Paris area will begin a “siege of the capital” on Monday January 29, the two unions which represent the majority of the profession at the national level announced on Saturday evening.
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“ From Monday January 29 at 2 p.m. farmers from the departments: Aisne, Aube, Eure, Eure & Loir, Île-de-France, Marne, Nord, Oise, Pas- de-Calais, Seine & Marne, Seine-Maritime and Somme, members of the FNSEA network and Young Farmers of the Greater Paris Basin begin a siege of the capital for an indefinite period », Write the FNSEA and Young Farmers (JA) unions of the greater Paris area in a press release.
The anger of the agricultural world is still on the front page of French news after the announcements on Friday January 26 by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. However, fewer blockages were reported this Saturday on the roads of France. Those led by the Young Farmers union were lifted at midday. Perhaps to come back better… Because this same union is threatening a potential blockade of Paris from Monday.
“Unity, the key to making the protest last”
Other mobilizations continued this Saturday, led in particular by Rural Coordination, with a snail operation in the Paris region this morning. The opportunity also to discuss the continuation of the protest movement.
Up since 5:00 a.m., around thirty farmers, unionized or not, left from the south of the Paris region towards Charles de Gaulle airport, north of Paris. In the procession, around twenty tractors, enough to slow down traffic on the road. A few honks from motorists in support. They all agree on one point: the Prime Minister’s announcements are insufficient. But what follow-up to this dispute? Because there are those who are tired after a week of mobilization, those who will have to return to work on their farms and those who doubt the unity of the unions.
“ Unity, however, will be the key to making the protest last, I am ready to go on a production strike, but will all the farmers follow me? », asks an operator for example. In their sights, the capital, Paris. Its blockade by certain unions is a possibility by tomorrow evening. A farmer remembers, in 1992, we were against the Common Agricultural Policy, we blocked all of Paris, so now is really not the time to stop everything.
The mobilization in France echoes those observed in other European countries
The mobilization in France echoes those observed in other European countries. If the arrival on the market of Ukrainian cereals was a local spark among Central European farmers, Luc Vernet, secretary general of the think tank Farm Europe, analyzes at the microphone of Jean-Baptiste Marot the concerns which transcend the movement at the level European:
“ In Western Europe in particular, the Netherlands, but today also, France, Spain, we see that it is much more the questions of rules, standards and the fact that farmers have the impression that we are saying to farmers how to cultivate, to breeders how to breed. But there is a central and common point to all of these movements with a figure which still reflects a strong economic reality. This is because between 2003 and 2023, the value of direct aid will have fallen by 37%.. »
Farmers have the impression of a disengagement of the public authorities and in particular of Europe on this subject on the economic level, but conversely of a multiplication at the European level of constraints which hamper the competitiveness of their farms and they do not don’t see how to deal with an equation that is becoming economically impossible.
Luc Vernet, secretary general of the Farm Europe think tank, (expert): “Between 2003 and 2023, the value of direct aid will have fallen by 37%”
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