Guest of BFMTV to discuss the first actions carried out by farmers before the start of the national mobilization on Monday, Christian Convers spoke of the despair of a certain number of farmers.
Will the new mobilization of farmers reach the level of that at the start of the year? Even before the start of the national mobilization on Monday at the call of the FNSEA and the Agricultural Games, the first actions are already taking place, notably on Friday morning in front of the Tarascon Tax Center in Bouches-du-Rhône. Farmers dumped waste in front of the building renamed the “Brazilian Embassy” to protest against the proposed free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur countries.
But the situation could well worsen over the days and weeks according to the national secretary of Rural Coordination Christian Convers invited on the BFMTV set: “I think we will see worse than that, we can expect it. For some farmers, it’s despair.” The breeder from Haute-Savoie believes that the recent health and climate crises are “the lot of agriculture” but the signing of the free trade agreement would be the last straw for the sector.
“When we have an economy that is working more or less and we have a little bit of reserves to overcome and manage to get through… but here we are so exhausted that every time there is a problem, it doesn't get through more,” explains Christian Convers.
“If Mercosur is ever signed, it will explode”
If most farmers carried out their sowing before the start of the mobilization in order to ensure their income for next year, the representative of Rural Coordination believes that there is a risk of slippage. “There is going to be violence, I am convinced of it,” he assures us. “When we no longer control the troops…”
“People can't take it anymore and these people have nothing left to lose. That's where the danger is. I see people at the trade fairs: if Mercosur is ever signed, it “is the explosion”, continues Christian Convers.
Despite this apparent pessimism, the latter wants to believe that France will be able to promote the interests of its farmers. “We can't believe that this profession is ruined, we are sure that it is essential. It's madness if the country lets its agriculture go, we can't believe that, it's incredible. We are in a bad times and I think that it's not just France and that it's a good part of European countries.”
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