Jérémy Jenneson, the national leaders of your union have called for a national mobilization until mid-December, what will happen in Meurthe-et-Moselle?
“We will mobilize from this Tuesday, November 19. »
Are you going to block the roads, the highways, like during the big movement last winter?
“No, we are going to change our course of action. Last year, we were massively supported by the Meurthe-et-Mosellans, the French in general. But workers who are not farmers also have difficulties. This time we will just show up with bales of straw and perhaps a little manure in front of the prefecture, from 1:30 p.m. »
What is your demand?
“The European Union is preparing to sign a free trade agreement with Mercosur (Editor's note: free trade zone which brings together several South American countries). We are against it because Europe imposes very restrictive standards on us, and with this agreement, we will let in products on which the standards are much lower, and therefore at much lower prices. »
You demonstrate on Tuesday, and we stop there?
“No, in parallel with Mercosur, we need to put pressure on the government because little has been done after our mobilizations last year. The year 2023 has been difficult, hence our mobilizations last winter. After the demonstrations, discussions were going in the right direction with the State, but the dissolution stopped everything dead. »
So how did this year 2024 go?
“The breeding was doing well, but bluetongue arrived. The wheat harvest is one of the worst in decades. Lactalis has abandoned around twenty milk producers in Meurthe-et-Moselle. The treasuries are dry. We must rethink the French agricultural model, simplify our professions and controls, in order to allow ourselves to be undertaken. If we continue like this, almost a quarter of the farmers in 54 could stop within two years. The important thing is to restore meaning to the profession and so that we can live with dignity from our work. »
