The New Year in France has not meant a let up in protests against the latest embattled government with farmers demanding a meeting with the new Prime Minister.
"If we haven’t obtained a meeting with François Bayrou and (Agriculture Minister) Annie Genevard by Thursday (January 2nd), after the Prime Minister's return from Mayotte, we’ll call for farmers to march on Paris," a spokesperson for the militant Coordination Rurale (CR) union told RMC Radio earlier this week.
CR is known for its more militant stance, and it is second largest farmers’ union behind the alliance of the FNSEA and the Jeunes Agriculteurs (JA).
The CR spokesperson added "We’re already in the process of organising ourselves and setting meeting points. The idea will be to block access," to the capital from Sunday.
Why are they protesting?
The CR is seeking guarantees from the Prime Minister that the new government will defend France’s “agricultural exception”, and protect the country’s small-scale farmers.
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"We want [agricultural] controls, but we also want import controls. Today, we’re letting poor products into our country. And we don’t want any more over-transposition of European rules (...): we must have the same rules to avoid unfair competition," a CR spokesperson told AFP.
CR’s blockade threat comes just a few days before the official launch of the campaign for elections to the Chambers of Agriculture, which kicks off on January 7th.
The vote, which will take place online or by post between January 15th and 31st, will determine the new balance of influence between the agricultural unions, currently dominated by the FNSEA-JA alliance.
The FNSEA-JA has also requested “an urgent meeting” with Bayrou following his appointment, to demand, “the immediate resumption of work to respect the promises made,” to end farmers’ protests last year.
Last autumn, farmers set up roadblocks, bridge blockades and demonstrations in protest at the EU’s Mercosur deal with South American countries, as well as what they see as broken promises by the French government over more help and support for farmers.
And, in in early 2024, they launched massively disruptive demonstrations including blockading many motorways across France and Europe, over issues including low prices for their produce and environmental regulation.
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