They have not said their last word. Farmers, still waiting for answers, plan to mobilize throughout France in the coming days. Their unions were invited to a meeting with the new Prime Minister, François Bayrou, on January 13, as the government spokesperson announced to Le Parisien, but this is a date still considered too far away by the Rural Coordination, who maintains his call to demonstrate, “in Paris” and “everywhere in France” from Sunday.
François Bayrou will receive the organizations “in turn,” said Matignon, citing the FNSEA, the Rural Coordination, the Peasant Confederation and the Young Farmers (JA). This is a “first meeting with organizations to discuss issues and emergencies”, underlines the government.
“We are offered a meeting with François Bayrou on Monday January 13. They're making fun of us, they're just buying time. There is no desire to move forward,” declared Patrick Legras, spokesperson for Rural Coordination. “We maintain our call to demonstrate, everywhere in France, (…) to go to Paris, by car or tractor. The idea is to be there on Sunday afternoon to demonstrate on Monday,” he added, specifying that the organization of the mobilization remained the prerogative of the sections in the regions.
Friday morning, the president of Rural Coordination, Véronique Le Floc'h, spoke on RTL radio of “punctual blockages” in the capital from Sunday. “We don’t have an answer coming to us, so we have to go look for it,” she explained.
A blockade of Lyon from Monday
The call to demonstrate was mainly relayed locally, by the different departmental sections of the CR, a few days before the official launch of the campaign for the elections to the chambers of agriculture, which begins on January 7. The vote, which will take place online or by mail from January 15 to 31, will determine the new balance of power between agricultural unions. One of the challenges of this election will be to see to what extent the CR, whose yellow caps have gained visibility since last winter's crisis, can shake up the hegemony of the majority alliance FNSEA-Jeunes Agriculteurs, which had also requested “an emergency meeting” with François Bayrou after his appointment.
It is in this context that other mobilizations are planned in France in the coming days. In the Rhône, in particular, the Agri Chabanière association, with the support of Rural Coordination (CR 69), plans to block Lyon from Monday. “No one takes us into consideration. In reality, the problems are 30 years old, but even more present in recent years”, denounces the spokesperson for CR 69 to Le Progrès, anticipating a blockage which “could last several days”.
