Rural Coordination 47 was able to meet Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Camélat Bridge in Lot et Garonne on May 4. Despite a cordial meeting, the co-president of CR47, Karine Duc, notes a blockage at the highest level of the State and leaves the threat of new demonstrations of force for the end of the year.
The Lot-et-Garonne farmer gives the context of this meeting with the Prime Minister on May 4. “It was a question of demonstrating, of receiving him less cordially, but out of respect for our elected officials who invested in this inauguration, we accepted the idea of a meeting”, explains Karine Duc, co-president of Rural Coordination 47. At the start of the year, her union actively participated in farmers’ mobilizations, not hesitating to dump slurry in front of the prefecture and organize numerous blockades.
It emerges from this exchange, between the Prime Minister, the Rural Coordination, the FDSEA and the JA, that things have hardly changed since the last agricultural crisis. For Karine Duc, it’s a “observation of failure of what is not done, of major subjects which are not addressed”. That is to say: abusive margins, unfair competition such as unremunerative prices.
Representatives of agricultural unions were received at the Lot-et-Garonne prefecture and Gabriel Attal was apparently attentive. “The Prime Minister never says no. He seems invested in his missions…” she concedes. “In his words, he wants to do“However, after all these movements and these consultations, she believes that it is still a question of “words”.
Concretely, in the actions there is nothing, no improvement in the daily lives of farmers.
Karine DucCo-president of Rural Coordination 47
It highlights the cumbersomeness, even administrative blockages, in Paris and in the regions. “Cancer is in his troops“, she denounces. “At the local level, his teams on the ground, there is nothing! He must be respected in his administrations“.
If the agricultural unions forced this meeting, it is because they consider the situation to be explosive. Karine Duc recalls “abusive margins”and the numerous social, tax and energy charges which “prevent them from being competitive”..
The fire is on every farm! I don’t know how to explain the situation to this government after the fiftieth time!
Karine DucCo-President of rural coordination 47
What will happen in the coming weeks? The activist seems quite pessimistic. With her colleagues during the meeting, she informed Gabriel Attal. “We made him understand that the worst was to be feared at the end of the year. When each of us has finished our growing season, we will take stock of the financial situation which will be worse than 2023!”
We can’t wait any longer. On our farms, farmers are at their wits’ end.
Karine DucCo-President of rural coordination 47
The threat of new demonstrations of force is not far away. “It will no longer be demonstrations, but chaos that will happen. It would be a disaster…“
