You had to dare. Carried away by a surge of opportunism, the boss of the first French agricultural union demanded on Wednesday evening the lifting of all controls on farms until a new government has been appointed. In a meeting organized in Dordogne, the head of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, openly demanded that farmers be able to work without any restrictions. “We no longer have a State, we no longer have a government for our solutions, well I tell you friends, as of tonight (yesterday) there are no more controls on our farms! “. The boss of the agri-food empire Avril had already called not to vote on the motion of censure.
This statement may seem demagogic. Who would imagine that we could suspend hygiene inspections, health checks, road checks or even compliance with the Labor Code in companies? Should we also make transport free and suspend taxation until a Prime Minister has been appointed?
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The speech mainly aims to put pressure on the future government. But Arnaud Rousseau also recalls that French agriculture has been negotiating for months with the Attal and then Barnier governments to translate its demands into laws and regulatory texts.
“It’s not demagoguery. The reality is that as long as the promises are not kept, there is no point in making the administration work. The controls will resume when the promises have been kept,” he said to applause before adding: “For the second time in less than six months, the work we have done has just gone down the river.”
An important lobby behind the scenes
Behind the words of the big boss of the Avril group (Lesieur oils, Puget, etc.) there is also an important lobby. In each crisis, the powerful agricultural union does not miss the opportunity to defend the vision of the major agri-food groups, demanding a lowering of standards, particularly regarding the use of phytosanitary products.
During the war in Ukraine, the head of the regional chamber of agriculture of Brittany called for “breaking the barriers” to face the threat of famine. For the head of the FNSEA, “the Prime Minister must, upon his or her appointment, tell us very clearly what he or she intends to do with agricultural matters”. The agricultural union specifies that it does not wish to wait until January to be determined.
