Paris France – Emmanuel Macron scheduled an important debate for Saturday, February 24 at the Agricultural Hall. He will try to put an end to a crisis that has been going on for weeks, despite several government announcements. But he will face a large number of actors with divergent interests, who will be very difficult to bring to agreement and who regularly reveal the president's own contradictions.
The meeting promises to be electric. French President Emmanuel Macron will open the International Agricultural Show (SIA) on Saturday, February 24, with what the Elysée describes as an “open and unfiltered debate” with farmers. Farmers' anger, which peaked at the end of January with the blockade of several highways, has only partially calmed since the various government announcements.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's press conference on Wednesday, February 21, was the latest example of this. TO Despite new measures on the use of pesticides in France and the announcement of a new version of the Egalim law for the summer, farmers keep up the pressure.
The main agricultural union, the FNSEA, and the Young Farmers (JA) are planning a “procession” of farmers in Paris on Friday night, led by several tractors and ending at the gates of the Show, where some of them could camp until the President's arrival the next day. The Coordination Rurale, the second union in the sector, also plans a demonstration in Paris on Friday.
Expectations regarding the visit of the French president to the Agricultural Show are very high. Arnaud Rousseau, head of the FNSEA, stressed on Wednesday on 'France 5' that the President of the Republic must embody the “software change” in France and Europe in agricultural matters, and the emphasis placed on “French food sovereignty.”
“Ce qui se passe est inédit dans le monde agricole after 30 years! Il ya un vrai doute sur l'exécution de la parole, les gens disent: “Tant que je ne vois pas, je n'y crois pas!” “On attend beaucoup des propos du Président samedi.”@rousseautrocy dans #CàVous pic.twitter.com/LYrphLeLoQ
— C à vous (@cavousf5) February 21, 2024
To this we must add the need for an ecological transition, presented by the Government as indispensable, and the proximity of the European elections (June 9), for which the polls give a wide advantage to the National Group (RN) over the majority presidential list.
However, in trying to satisfy the main agricultural unions and, at the same time, pursue France's environmental and climate objectives and electoral objectives vis-à-vis the RN, Emmanuel Macron's task appears delicate, given the numerous contradictions. Here is a summary.
About food sovereignty
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal promised to place agriculture “among the fundamental interests” of the country, on the same level as security and defense. The goal of “agricultural and food sovereignty” will be written “in black and white” in the future agricultural policy bill, he said.
Since the executive mentioned food sovereignty during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and then during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the notion has never been clearly defined. According to 'Le Parisien', which has been able to consult the document, the future “bill for sovereign agriculture” will address this issue. According to the newspaper, “French food sovereignty means the ability to ensure its food supply within the framework of the internal market of the European Union and its international commitments”.
However, there are “several contradictions” in this objective, points out Thierry Pouch, economist, head of the studies and forecasts department of the Permanent Assembly of Chambers of Agriculture and associate researcher at the Regards laboratory at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne.
“As for the ban on importing fruits and vegetables treated with thiacloprid, for example, the idea of sovereignty would require putting in place a production policy to deal with the expected shortage of these products. But nothing has been announced in this regard” , emphasizes the researcher.
Furthermore, although The Executive does not stop repeating that France opposes the conclusion of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), is not only present at the negotiating table, which has lasted for more than 20 years, but subscribes to the logic of the free trade agreements that Brussels intends. However, The consequence of these treaties is the import of foreign products that threaten certain French industries.as well as the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
While waiting for the Government to precisely define “agricultural and food sovereignty”, “everyone will be able to listen to what they want”, says Thierry Pouch. “It is a way for the executive to satisfy both those in favor of the ecological transition and the most reticent.”
About the ecological transition
The prime minister's series of announcements relating especially to pesticides have particularly irritated environmentalists. Between the shelving of the Ecophyto plan and the abandonment of Nodu, the indicator used to measure the reduction in pesticide use in France, in favor of the European indicator HRI-1, considered less effective by NGOs, the disappointment is great.
“This is a renunciation of a French ambition that is more protective of the health of citizens and farmers,” Sandrine Bélier, of the Humanité et Biodiversité association, told AFP. Thomas Uthayakumar, advocacy director at the Fondation pour la Nature et l'Homme, lamented that “this decision clearly goes against history.”
“It clearly goes against all recommendations. Changing the thermometer is not the solution”, he added. This is a “total disavowal” of the Ecophyto plan and a “genuine sleight of hand that will stop any drive for change towards agroecological production systems,” criticized the Générations futures association.
However, the Elysée insists that “our objectives in terms of environmental protection are not questioned, and the same goes for the fight against climate warming”, despite the fact that Emmanuel Macron stated, on the eve of the presidential elections in 2022, that its future five-year period “will be ecological or it will not be.”
Beyond the issue of pesticides, the Government clings to a productivist logic established after the Second World War and advocated by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union, at a time when a study by the French Society of Nutrition and the Climate Action Network published on February 20 calls on the French to reduce their meat consumption by half to above all reduce their carbon footprint.
“Two fundamentally different agricultures cannot coexist,” Gaspard Manesse, spokesman for the Confédération paysanne d'Île-de-France, the third farmers' union in the Paris region, which defends a vision of agriculture different from that of the FSNEA. In other words, the Government must make a decision and stop trying to please everyone.
On farmers' income
On February 21, Gabriel Attal announced that a new version of the Egalim law would be presented in the summer, aimed at improving farmers' income. It will be the fourth version of the law, which so far has not achieved its objectives.
The issue of income is central to the demands of farmers and is shared by all unions. However, unlike other issues where the Government prides itself on having been able to respond quickly –50% of the 62 commitments made have already been fulfilled, according to Matignon-, “the question of remuneration remains pending”, acknowledged Thursday morning the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, in France Bleu Armorique.
According to him, “we are faced above all with large distribution (…) that has a battery of lawyers” who “know how to get around” the law. “The truth is that several supermarket chains did not want Egalim (…) because they do not want regulation (…). We are not going to back down from these powers,” added the minister.
Convincing all our European partners seems like an impossible mission to me
In this speech, “it is clear that the backdrop is the European elections,” says Thierry Pouch. “The economy and politics are intertwined, especially with the idea proposed by the Government and the majority of a European Egalim law. However, convincing all our European partners seems like an impossible mission to me: What production costs will be used as a reference? They are not the same in France as in Poland. Not to mention the fact that the war in Ukraine has also had an impact, with an inflationary shock discouraging consumers from purchasing high-end products. Organic products have been especially affected in recent months,” explains the expert.
Thus, it seems difficult to want to fight inflation by trying to keep prices as low as possible and, at the same time, want farmers' wages to increase. A distributor points out this contradiction in Challenges: “Less than a year ago, Bercy forced us to launch an anti-inflationary basket. Today, politicians criticize us for lowering prices too much.”
All of these contradictory objectives will be at the center of Emmanuel Macron's debate with farmers on Saturday. Will it be able to reconcile all the actors in the agricultural world: producers, industrialists, distributors, environmentalists? “This debate must bring us all together,” they insist at the Elysée. “It must allow us to build together a common vision of French agriculture.”
However, it seems difficult to bring stakeholders with such divergent interests to an agreement. When the FNSEA learned that the environmental group Soulèvements de la Terre had been invited to the debate, it quickly warned that it would not participate if its presence was confirmed. Emmanuel Macron preferred to back down. “To guarantee the serenity of the debates, Les Soulèvements de la Terre have not been invited,” the Elysée finally announced on Thursday evening.
This article was adapted from its original in French
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