Blockages, heavy-handed actions… What are the farmers of the Rural Coordination who are going to “go up” to Paris this Sunday preparing?

Objective: “turn the table”. The Rural Coordination maintained its call to demonstrate in «Paris» et «everywhere in France» from Sunday, judging the date of the meeting with Prime Minister François Bayrou, who gave them an appointment on January 13, still too far away. A movement which could disrupt the returns to the capital of many vacationers.

“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 will to move forward,” Patrick Legras, spokesperson for Rural Coordination, told AFP on Friday. “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. the spokesperson continued again.

“Dozens of tractors”

« We are setting up a system and we are expecting dozens of tractors, vans or cars this Sunday to carry out actions to control refrigerated trucks or symbolic punch operations, commented Patrick Legras, spokesperson for the CR, to the Figaro . «They will take place in Paris, around the capital and in the regions. continues the union leader without voluntarily giving more details.

In fact, tractors will mainly leave Île-de-France and its surrounding areas such as Normandy, or Loir-et-Cher, to position themselves around Paris, assures RMC. “It will not be on the strategic barrier of Saint-Arnoult on this day of return from vacation, nor on the ring road”specifies James Boucher, strawberry breeder in Sologne and co-organizer of the action, on the radio. “There will inevitably be small blockages on the roads, slowdowns which we will try to limit as much as possible. We leave with shelters to sleep for three days, four days, five days. further details the breeder.

“Sign commitments”

“What we want are measures that will allow us to continue working without it costing us more”specified the president of Rural Coordination, dairy farmer Véronique Le Floc'h on RTL on Friday, pushing in particular for a “energy shield” and the revision of the calculation of farmers' social charges.We hope that the agricultural crisis, which has lasted for a year, will finally lead to concrete measures. Successive governments walk us around with their promises. We didn't get much. We are asking the Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture to sign commitments. added Patrick Legras.

New balance of power

“Our members and supporters are preparing and we are going into the electoral campaign on the 7th. So we have (Sunday) 5 (January) left, we have (Monday) 6 left”specified for her part Véronique Le Floc'h. This call comes 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 also requested “an emergency appointment” with François Bayrou after his appointment. Customary of punchy actions, the CR wants to obtain guarantees from the Prime Minister for the defense of a «exception agriculturelle» French, focused on the defense of small farmers whom it considers crushed by free trade.

The pressure from future demonstrations, however, is likely to be less strong than during the massive mobilizations of January 2024: this time, only one union called for mobilization.