The FNSEA and the Young Farmers published on Wednesday evening a list of 24 demands addressed to the government.
The farmers are angry. And while the actions are expected to intensify further in the coming days while the government has promised first announcements by the end of the week, the FNSEA and the Young Farmers made public their list of grievances on Wednesday January 24, 2024. . Deploring “a rain of incomprehensible decisions” which is falling on the agricultural sector, they call for “a strong structural change”. The unions make two major observations in the preamble to their requests.
First of all a national observation, with the fact that currently in France, “all the indicators of food sovereignty show that we are losing ground, decisions to revive production are imperative”, they estimate, then arguing that at the level European, “the very philosophy of the Green deal” must “be reviewed to restore visibility to farmers”. Calling for “urgent” change, the FNSEA and Young Farmers highlight three priority areas on which the government must work: the dignity of farmers in the exercise, the fair remuneration of their work, and finally the need to re-establish acceptable conditions of exercise of the profession.
Secondly, the unions establish two lists: one on the first measures to be taken urgently and another on legislative measures to be taken, undoubtedly, in a second phase. From emergency measures, several points. The first concerns the immediate responses that could be provided on the remuneration :
- Full compliance with EGAlim laws, thanks among other things to reinforced controls and the non-negotiation of agricultural raw materials (MPA),
- Guarantee full compensation for all on non-road diesel (GNR),
- Payment of all CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) aid immediately, regardless of the reasons for non-payment,
- Ensure the very rapid payment of all health and climate compensation (MHE, Tuberculosis, avian flu, floods, etc.) owed by the State while exempting these same aid from taxes,
- Immediately help the sectors most in crisis: viticulture and organic agriculture,
- Make breeding a great national cause. For this point, the unions mention in particular a clear refusal of Free Trade Agreements,
- The rejection of the Ecophyto plan, which aims to reduce the use of plant protection products.
Among the other emergency measures, several concern the complete and immediate rejection of all overtranspositions. Several proposals are being discussed, such as the cleaning of watercourses to prevent flooding or the wholesale rejection of non-treatment zones (ZNT). The unions are also calling for get out of the inconsistencies of the Green deal and ecological planning, with proposals such as obtaining an exemption on the 4% fallows or returning to the “Prairie Ratio to take decapitalization into account”. Finally, it is a question of also put in place specific measures in favor of generational renewal. In this point, the unions particularly highlight the fact of “insisting on fiscal and social measures linked to installation and transmission”.
Concerning the legislative measuresthe FNSEA and the Young Farmers are demanding simplification on several points, such as the actions of the French Biodiversity Office (OFB) for example. There competitiveness is also highlighted in the section on legislative measures to be taken.