After a first week of mobilization, farmers plan to intensify their actions on Tuesday, November 26 against “anything that hinders [leur] life “in particular the free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries, debated in the afternoon in the National Assembly.
In a climate of tension, a few weeks before their professional elections, the unions returned to the field in a dispersed manner. Less than a year after a historic mobilization, they believe they have not made enough concrete progress. After symbolic actions in eighty-five departments last week, the majority alliance between the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA) and the Young Farmers (JA) plans to occupy the field until Thursday afternoon.
“The actions will focus on everything that hinders the lives of farmers”said the president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, on Tuesday morning on France 2, planning targeted actions in particular “administrations and a certain number of agencies”for example those of the water of the French Biodiversity Office (OFB). “If we want to continue enabling farmers to earn a living, we must make their lives easier every day.” he added.
Visible changes “very, very fast”
For its part, the Rural Coordination (CR), the second agricultural union, foresees “amplify” its mobilization beyond the southwest, where its actions have been concentrated until now: with filter dams, the blockade of the port of Bordeaux or the looting of an OFB office in Creuse. On Tuesday, the union plans a demonstration in front of the European Parliament. A delegation of twenty-five tractors left Vesoul (Haute-Saône) on Monday shortly after 6:00 p.m. to arrive in Strasbourg, reported an Agence France-Presse correspondent.
Opposed to free trade for decades, the Paysanne Confederation, the third representative union, continues its mobilizations against the agreement with Mercosur, with an action in the Dordogne during the day.
The unions encourage their local sections to be autonomous, in an electric atmosphere of pre-electoral superiority, as demonstrated by the interruption of a trip by Mr. Rousseau on Friday to Agen by activists of the RC of Lot-et-Garonne. . Since Monday, activists from the majority union FNSEA have built a wall in front of the Ardennes prefecture, to “They represent the distance that separates the farmer and the administration”while the CR threw tires and manure in front of the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, deploring that the State only proposes one thing: “loans to pay loans”instead of protecting farmers’ incomes.
” Most [des manifestations] “It turned out well: we can demonstrate without breaking, without hurting ourselves.”Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau stressed on Franceinfo on Tuesday, warning against any violence. Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard promised on Monday that farmers would see “very, very fast” concrete things and assured that France is advancing in the construction of a blocking minority in the free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia).
The unanimous vote of the Assembly was not won
This treaty would allow imported meat, sugar or corn to enter Europe without customs duties, with the risk of “cause deep imbalances for our producers”who would face a “unfair competition”estimated the Minister of Agriculture and her Foreign Trade colleague, Sophie Primas, in a column in Figaro. For the FNSEA, opposition to this treaty is a “existential battle”Arnaud Rousseau insisted on Tuesday.
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Tuesday afternoon, M.my Genevard and Primas will take the government’s word to the National Assembly, where there will be a debate and then a vote on this treaty, before it goes to the Senate. The Government expects a unanimous vote that gives weight to the French position vis-à-vis the European Commission, the only one authorized to negotiate this free trade agreement for the Twenty-seven. But nothing is gained in advance.
If the deputy Dominique Potier (PS) expects a certain unity against the agreement, he specifies that the vote of the socialist group will depend on the government’s declaration: “We will judge as things stand. » For Arnaud Le Gall, who will present the position of La France insoumise (LFI), only a government proposal that “it would end the negotiations” would result in a favorable vote from LFI. Oppose the agreement “as is” It won’t be enough. On behalf of the National Rally (RN), deputy Hélène Laporte was surprised by a new vote and recalled that the Assembly had already voted against it in June 2023, but confirmed that the RN was “against this agreement”.
