Farmers continue to increase their actions this Tuesday, January 23, with new highway blockages. The movement was mourned by the death of a farmer and her daughter in Ariège, hit by a car which unintentionally ran into a dam, according to the first elements of the investigation.
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The day after a seemingly unsuccessful meeting with the government, French farmers are carrying out new blockade operations. Around 4 a.m., around thirty tractors blocked traffic on the A7 in both directions, between Lyon and Valence (south-east). In the southwest, new dams have been added to those put in place in recent days.
In Agen, dozens of tractors block the A62. Rail traffic, once disrupted in the area by a dump of tires on the tracks, has been restored. In Dordogne, traffic is disrupted in several places, near Bergerac airport and on access to the A89, according to the prefecture. Convoys of tractors are also converging towards Limoges and Poitiers, where demonstrations are expected. Of ” small actions » also took place in the east on Monday evening, for example at the Saint-Avold tollgate or at the German border in Saarbrücken, according to the Departmental Federation of Agricultural Operators’ Unions (FDSEA) Moselle, which announces more actions on Wednesday . In the Somme and Oise, actions are planned from midday, according to union sources.
Actions also took place in Poitiers, in the west of France, dozens of tractors converged on the Vienne prefecture. Sébastien Berger, president of the department’s FNSEA, sees the movement gaining momentum. And they will remain mobilized as long as they do not receive answers from the authorities.
In many departments, there is the same movement that has been underway for four days. We feel that we will end up being listened to.
Sébastien Berger, president of the FNSEA of the Vienne department
Two deaths in Pamiers
This new day of mobilization was marked by the deaths of a 35-year-old farmer and her daughter, hit by a car at a dam in Pamiers (south-west). The spouse of the operator, “ seriously » injured, is still hospitalized. The three occupants of the car were placed in police custody as part of an investigation into aggravated manslaughter and aggravated injuries, according to the prosecution. “ The facts in question do not appear to be intentional. », Underlined the Foix prosecutor’s office, pointing out the lack of visibility at the scene.
Emmanuel Macron asked the government to provide “ concrete solutions » to the difficulties of farmers and regretted a “ drama that upsets us all “. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal expressed his “ penalty » and assured that the “ nation is upset and united », on the X network.
The Pamiers tragedy upsets us all. I think with emotion of the victims and their bereaved loved ones.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 23, 2024
Monday evening, the government welcomed the majority unions, without announcement at the exit. Mr. Rousseau said he expected declarations from the Prime Minister and his team: which move the lines significantly”, evoking an immediate discount on diesel for tractors. Gabriel Attal wants “ go fast », “ during the week », affirmed the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau.
“ In the particular moment that agriculture is going through, this kind of drama is difficult to live with, declared the president of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA), Arnaud Rousseau, on RMC. “ The scale of what is being prepared will not be changed by this tragedy “, he then underlined, adding “the fighting continues”. “ The drama of this morning (…) brings us even more dignity into our movement and certainly re-mobilizes even more », Added the vice-president of the agricultural organization, Luc Smessaert.
When we witness a tragedy like this, we can only get more and more angry.
Martine Froger, socialist deputy for Ariège
If part of France is blocked by professionals angry, particularly against European regulations, the anger is deeper than that: it is a feeling of downgrading that farmers experience. “ We are perhaps one of the only professions where a group of experts come to explain to our producers what they must do and how they must do it. We ask producers to produce, but we also ask them to produce without water, to produce without solutions in terms of means of production, pesticides in particular, estimates Laurent Grandin, president of Interfel, the Inter-profession of professions in the fruit and vegetable sector in France, speaking to RFI. Sometimes, France has taken purely political decisions. Neonicotinoids were stopped in the National Assembly, not by a group of experts. It was stopped in France by a purely political decision. We felt that there was a bitterness, a discontent and a loss of perspective that existed, so it was latent. »
Read also Farmers’ discontent spreads across Europe
EU agriculture ministers meet in Brussels
The agriculture ministers of the European Union are meeting this Tuesday in Brussels while the rag is burning between farmers and the governments of several countries against a backdrop of contestation of European policies. For the 27, this is the first step in reflection because for the moment no concrete measure is on the table that would meet their common concerns and the demands of the sector, explains
The idea of a European strategic dialogue was launched at a time when farmers’ discontent began to get out of hand, first with the mobilization of the Dutch after the government’s decision to halve cattle breeding and then of the Germans following it. to the reduction of advantages on agricultural diesel.
The strategic dialogue mentioned this Tuesday will be formally launched this Thursday but it is already certain that it is the European Green Deal which will be in the crosshairs. On the one hand the contested decisions in Germany and the Netherlands were based on the need to comply with European objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and on the other hand the agricultural aspect of the European Green Deal is far from ‘be completed. It could be threatened by the CAP strategic dialogue a few months before the European elections in June.
We have already seen in the European Parliament the right/left opposition transform into a confrontation between “ friends of farmers ” And ” friends of the environment » with the result of the failure of the negotiation on pesticides, the exemption of cattle breeding for the objectives of reducing emissions and a reduction of the ambitions of the law on the restoration of nature.