Angry farmers – End of truck blockage at the French-Spanish border: “If the other agricultural unions had come to take over from us, we could have continued much longer”

24 hours. This is precisely how long the blockage of the Boulou toll barrier lasted. However, just the day before, the Rural Coordination of the Pyrénées-Orientales (CR 66) announced that it would remain “as long as it takes”. For the record, on Tuesday, November 19 from midday, farmers from the P.-O., Aude and Hérault blocked the A9 motorway in the Spain-France direction. The blockade, the aim of which was to prevent goods trucks from entering French territory, was lifted this Wednesday, November 20 around noon. After cleaning the lanes where demonstrators left tires and emptied a dumpster of green waste, at the beginning of the afternoon, traffic was able to resume normally.

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VIDEOS Angry farmers: demonstrators suspend their action and lift the blockade of trucks, traffic still “strongly disrupted” on the A9

Lack of support

But then why? Why make the decision to end the blockade when the day before, everything predicted a long-term mobilization? The response was somewhat visible this Wednesday morning on site. If on Tuesday, there were nearly 200 who responded to the call from the Rural Coordination of the P.-O., once the night passed, there were four times fewer. Barely fifty.

The call for general mobilization launched the day before by the president of CR 66 Philippe Maydat asking farmers to ignore each other's union connections and “fight together for the profession”clearly did not resonate. Neither among the Young Farmers (JA 66), nor among the Departmental Federation of Farmers' Unions (FDSEA 66). “After spending the night here, everyone is tired. Many haven't slept at all. And we haven't had the relief we expected. There aren't enough of us to maintain the dam.”deplores Philippe Maydat. If the other agricultural unions had come to take over from us, we could have continued much longer. We are the only ones who wanted to defend farmers. Maybe the other unions are afraid of Rural Coordination…” The still limited weight of Rural Coordination in the department also explains this slowdown. Especially since the FNSEA had, well before the blockage, expressed its desire to wait for this Monday, November 25 and for responses from the minister, before calling for mobilization.

We are not campaigning for the Chamber of Agriculture.

Mobilization against the backdrop of elections

Note that the chambers of agriculture are called to the polls on January 31, 2025. For the president of CR 66, this is part of the reasons why the other agricultural unions in the department did not join them. “We are not campaigning for the Chamber of Agriculture, we are here to defend the interests of all farmers. The other unions see it differently. And obviously, we do not speak the same language. We, we We are here to defend farmers and only farmers.”

Even though the operation only lasted 24 hours, the Rural Coordination of the P.-O. considers that the objective has been achieved. “What happened was beyond our expectations. I never imagined that we could impact Spanish roads to this extent. People from CR 66 went for a ride to the other side of the border, the traffic, it was horror. We succeeded in this action and carried it out alone, without additional soldiers.concludes the president before adding that the mobilization will not stop here. And will see the light of day in another form in the coming days.

After leaving the Boulou toll gate, a convoy went to the city center to reach the prefecture where a delegation was received in the middle of the afternoon. The question of property taxes on agricultural land was put on the table. “We have succeeded in obtaining an automatic reduction of this tax for agriculture victims of the extremely complicated economic situation. The other part will have to be the subject of a request for a free rebate”indicated CR 66 at the end of its interview with prefect Thierry Bonnier.