The French government is promising measures in favor of farmers in the face of pressure from the protests

Emmanuel Macron’s government is promising new measures in favor of farmers within 48 hours in the face of pressure from the protests and intends to do so At the EU summit on Thursday, the end of compulsory fallow land will be renegotiated and restrictions on the import of Ukrainian products.

In an interview on France 2, Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau said: “In 48 hours there will be a number of things we can put on the table.”

A few hours before the start of the Blockades of some of the main access axes to Pariswhich was promised by the major agricultural unions for an indefinite period, Fesneau stressed that this would be in addition to the measures already presented last Friday by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

In addition, the Minister of Agriculture has announced that he himself will travel to Brussels to accompany Macron at the extraordinary European summit at which the French President decided to put the crisis in agriculture, and in particular in viticulture and fallow land, on the agenda. and imports from Ukraine.

Detail of measurements

At Fallow suppression France has insisted on the mandatory 4% of the area that would have to be applied this year under the current rules of the Common Agricultural Policy “The decision can be made this week” and has found that 22 of the 27 EU states are in favor.

refer to Import of agricultural products from Ukraine as if they came from another country in the European Union, something that was granted to Kiev for support after the Russian invasion in February 2022, The French minister indicated that has caused “perverse effects”. And? Paris wants there to be “a border”. to the “disorganization” it creates.

France hopes that these restrictions, about which it does not give many details, will affect chicken, eggs and sugar, products that are in direct competition with French products.

Another point that the government considers important to address farmers’ demands is Balancing environmental obligations in France (e.g. on the use of pesticides and herbicides) with those in other EU countries.

When asked what law enforcement would do if Farmers blocking highways and roads begin checking foreign trucksAs happened last week when some of them were looted (particularly with Spanish products), Fesneau gave a cryptic answer.

On the one hand, he reiterated that Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin’s instruction to the 15,000 police and gendarmes deployed to the protests today is not to intervene “as long as property and people are respected.”

On the other hand, he pointed out that control is the responsibility of customs and state authorities to check whether products imported from abroad comply with the regulations.

Planas responds to Attal’s words

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, announced this today The rules of freedom of movement “apply equally in all states”, therefore “there is no preference”as the European Commission is responsible for regulating that there are no “competitive advantages” in the Member States of the European Union.

Planas was responding to the words of French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who pointed out that rules were imposed on French farmers, “not others”. The Spanish minister reiterated that he understands the anger on the part of our country’s agricultural sector at this type of statements, “especially since it is a country that has exported 70 billion euros in the last 12 months”, so “as I said : “We have to respect each other’s demonstrations, but we have to respect each other’s markets to improve that freedom of movement.”

Recent Articles

Related News

Leave A Reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here