Farmers in Franche-Comté have planned actions in the coming days. Friday, November 15 in the evening, rural coordination got the ball rolling. Around twenty radars were covered in the Doubs department.
The essentials of the day: our exclusive selection
Every day, our editorial team reserves the best regional news for you. A selection just for you, to stay in touch with your regions.
France Télévisions uses your email address to send you the newsletter “The essentials of the day: our exclusive selection”. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Our privacy policy
From Montbéliard, to Jougne. Throughout the department, farmers from the Doubs rural coordination used tarpaulins and tractor tippers to attack radars on the side of the roads. 25 to 30 radars according to CR 25-90.
A covered radar on the Levier road.
•
© CR 25-90
A bloodbath as Mercosur, a free trade trade treaty between the European Union and several South American countries, could well be signed in the coming weeks. This treaty has been under discussion for 25 years, and it worries French farmers.
On the Doubs, there are not too many concerns, with milk, the Comté, the impact will be less. But for meat and cereals, the consequences will be dangerous. We fear that 50% off products will arrive on the French market; this is competition that is not normal and not sustainable.
Nicolas Bongay president of rural coordination 25-90
The Minister of Agriculture and Comtoise Annie Genevard met farmers on Thursday, November 15 at the end of the day at Micropolis Besançon where she came to inaugurate “parlor cow”. She reaffirmed France's opposition to the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur, as Emmanuel Macron begins a tour of Latin America on Saturday.
“I have heard the growing concern about Mercosur and I continue to respond with the same determination”declared Annie Genevard in her speech at the Burgundy-Franche-Comté agricultural show.
We are firmly opposed to it and the French positions are aligned. We do not compromise on sovereignty and we do not surrender to international competition the sectors that make us proud.
Annie Genevard, Minister of Agriculture
The agreement in perspective with South America, particularly the increase in meat imports from Argentina and Brazil.
Nicolas Bongay fears that France does not weigh very heavily in the European balance. Germany is in favor of signing this trade treaty which would allow it, for example, to sell cars in Latin America.
French agricultural unions are categorically opposed to the signing of this agreement, negotiated for decades between the EU and the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia). The Brussels commission appears determined to sign an agreement before the end of the year.
In Franche-Comté, actions will continue in the coming days, they should remain “peaceful”. Radar coverings, panel dismantling and a barbecue gathering on the evening of Sunday, November 17 are planned in front of the Vesoul prefecture in Haute-Saône at the initiative of the FDSEA.
On the French side of the agricultural crisis and farmers' income and expenses, the government has tried to reassure them in recent hours by specifying the terms of the loans to which they will be eligible. Affected by poor harvests and emerging animal diseases, farmers believe they have still not reaped the fruits of last winter's mobilization: the implementation of the 70 commitments then made by the Attal government was slowed down by the dissolution of the National Assembly. They also consider the standards as complex as ever, and the income insufficient.
