French farmers decided to join the protests of their colleagues in other European countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania. Since Thursday afternoon, groups of farmers have blocked the A64 motorway between Toulouse and Tarbes, and the RN124 and RN20 roads, both in the south of the country, the latter very close to the borders with Andorra and Spain.
“We want them to listen to us. We have demands, but for now things are not moving forward. We will stay here until they start moving,” one of the farmers blocking the highway told broadcaster BFM. France's main agricultural union, the FNSEA, is considering calling for a major national protest in the coming weeks. The delay in the delivery of some public aid, the expected end of the subsidy for agricultural diesel, the implementation of new environmental standards and the prices imposed by the agri-food industries are the main complaints.
The government was quick to react and President Emmanuel Macron asked mayors on Friday to meet with farmers and ranchers from this weekend to hear their demands. Furthermore, the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, would travel this afternoon to the rural department of Cher (center) to visit a dairy farm and then participate in a meeting with representatives of agricultural unions to discuss, above all, one of the sector's demands, that of administrative simplification.
For his part, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal will meet on Monday with the president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, as announced by the latter on the social network X. “The fatigue that farmers have expressed for months is turning into anger in all of France. Words are no longer enough,” Rousseau added in his message.
The government's objective is to avoid images of tractors blocking streets and highways, as has been happening for more than a week, and for the opposition to take political advantage of a possible crisis. The candidate of the National Regroupment (RN, right-wing), Jordan Bardella, head of the party's list in the European elections on June 9, for which he is leading the polls, will also visit a farm today and meet with representatives of farmers from the department of Gironde (west), in an attempt to take advantage of the sector's discontent.
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