tractors from Haute-Saône to the European Parliament in Strasbourg to have “explanations”

They will leave Monday evening towards Strasbourg. Farmers want to understand why when the French Parliament votes on a decision, it is called into question by the European Commission.

Farmers from Haute-Saône will leave Monday, November 25 evening on their tractors towards the European Parliament in Strasbourg to have “explanations” on certain measures voted by Europe and which threaten French agriculture, warns Florian Dirant, president of Rural Coordination in Haute-Saône, guest of France Bleu Besançon Monday morning.

“We’re going to take out the tractors at the end of the day,” explains the president of Rural Coordination in the department who is launching the demonstration towards the European Parliament while 40,000 visitors are expected for the Saint Catherine fair in Vesoul (Haute-Saône). The convoy will leave for Strasbourg “vers 16h30-17 h”. Farmers want to meet members of the European Parliament.

A call from Rural Coordination 70 which will be “joined by adjacent regions”, explains Florian Dirant. “There is a plenary session on the importation of GMO corn seeds”, continues the president of the Haute-Saône Rural Coordination. Parliament voted against. “And finally, once passed to the European Commission, therefore in Brussels, it was voted on.” Farmers want to understand why “this measure is coming back to Parliament.”

“We would like to have explanations, how it is that parliamentarians vote against and that the commission follows the opinion of parliamentarians.”

Florian Dirant, president of Rural Coordination in Haute-Saône

at France Bleu Besançon

Farmers' anger also comes from the feeling of foreign competition “disloyal”, notably with Mercosur. “In France, we still have one of the safest agriculture in the world with corresponding controls”welcomes the farmer. According to him, France is “the most limited country in the use of phytosanitary products. We have a varied agriculture, we have small producers, a diversity of production.” He warns that he is “unthinkable that we would send our production to the other side of the world to recover something that is totally unsuitable for what we produce.”