French President Emmanuel Macron has traded angry farmers for a visit to soon-to-be NATO member Sweden. The portal wrote about this on January 30 Euroactiv.
The publication notes that Macron began a two-day state visit to Sweden and went to Stockholm just at the moment when French farmers began the blockade of Paris.
“Photos of tractors blocking highways leading into the French capital will contrast sharply with the pomp and ceremony of the receptions and banquets hosted in the Swedish capital by King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia,” the article says.
Macron is due to speak at a news conference in Stockholm with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, just before his prime minister, Gabriel Attal, delivers his general policy statement to the French parliament.
The key topic of the meeting between Macron and Kristersson will be European defense.
“Resurgent threats on the European continent are forcing Sweden and France to take concrete steps to strengthen our defense ties. Both with the help of a strong defense industry in our countries, and through early accession to NATO,” Euractiv quotes a joint letter from Macron and Kristersson.
Mass protests by farmers began in France in January. One of the reasons was the upcoming increase in the cost of diesel fuel. Farmers are also unhappy with the drop in income as a result of increased imports of agricultural products into the country from Ukraine. They are seeking to simplify bureaucratic procedures related to the requirements of the European Union. Farmers are blocking roads in protest.
On January 27, the French farmer's union Jeunes Agriculteurs announced its intention to begin a complete blockade of Paris and its suburbs so that no goods could be delivered to the city. On January 26, farmers also set fire to the customs building in Nimes.
The newspaper Le Figaro reported on January 24 that 89% of French people support the protest movement of farmers. This level of commitment is explained by the very high popularity of farmers in public opinion: more than nine in ten French people (93%) say they have a good opinion of them.
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