This live feed is provided by journalists from the General Information department.
9 h 15. In Avignon (Vaucluse), reports in particular Franceinfoaround a hundred farmers, with around thirty tractors, are mobilized on the Europe Bridge, which could be blocked throughout the day.
9 h 10. On RMC et BFMTVthe president of the strategic committee of the E.Leclerc centers Michel-Édouard Leclerc also attacked the agreement with Mercosur. “It is nonsense to go and sign contracts which are poorly negotiated and moreover which are negotiated without us”he castigated.
Offers him a “shield on farmers’ pricing proposals: we don’t discuss them, we protect”.
8 h 07. On TF1the president of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand judged that the agreement with Mercosur, if validated by the European Commission, “is a stab in the back of France and agriculture”. “It would be the first time that the European Union would consider its future without France”he added. “France must put pressure on the Commission and continue to look for allies. »
8 h 03. According to Franceinfoaround fifteen tractors blocked the N118 in Île-de-France this Monday morning.
7 h 49. Near The New Republic, the number two of the Young Farmers Quentin Le Guillous returned to the consequences, according to him disastrous, that a free trade agreement with Mercosur would have on French agriculture. “If this agreement is signed, around 100,000 tonnes of beef, tax-free at around 7%, would arrive. Which would make them ultra-competitive against EU meats. »
7 h 34. Around 150 farmers have gathered since Sunday evening in Vélizy-Villacoublay, in Yvelines, with around thirty tractors, announcement BFM. A “first step” in terms of mobilization, they say.
The president of the Île-de-France Region Valérie Pécresse went to meet them in the evening.
7 h 28. “There are limits: no damage to property, no damage to people, no encystment, no lasting blockage. Otherwise, there will be zero tolerance. If there is an encystment, we will not hesitate to mobilize mobile forces,” declared Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau in Le Grand Jurythis Sunday, November 17, on RTL, M6, Le Figaro et Public Senate
7 h 19. Taking up the arguments of the farmers, Emmanuel Macron also estimated that “We cannot ask our farmers […] to change their practices, to do without certain phytosanitary products”et “at the same time opening our market to massive imports of products which do not respect the same criteria”.
7 h 13. From Buenos Aires in Argentina, Emmanuel Macron warned this Sunday: France will not “will not sign as is” the free trade treaty with Mercosur, and “objects to this agreement”.
“We do not believe in the pre-agreement as it was negotiated,” he added, also considering that the text “would be very bad” for Argentina as well. His counterpart Javier Milei “told me himself that he was not satisfied” of the agreement, affirmed the French head of state.
Can the EU do without France for the signature? “I don’t think so,” replied Emmanuel Macron, who “recognizes the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen with great respect for France”.
7 h 06. But actually, what does this free trade agreement with Mercosur mean? We take stock in the video below:
7 h 04. Farmers’ demands are multiple, as the FNSEA points out: administrative simplification, support for treasuries, strengthening food sovereignty and putting an end to the EU’s inconsistencies in this area. The planned signature with Mercosur is “the drop of water”, denounces the union.
7 h 02. In our Central-West departments, several actions are planned, and some started on Sunday:
- Deux-Sèvres: from 7 p.m. this Sunday, members of the Young Farmers and the FNSEA went to cover municipal signs everywhere. This Monday from 2 p.m., two roundabouts will serve as a gathering place for tractors. A procession of tractors will then set off on the ring road around 3 p.m., to the exhibition center, where they intend to stay all night.
- Loir-et-Cher: agricultural unions are planning an action in front of the Blois prefecture, at 7:30 p.m. this Monday.
- Indre-et-Loire: the FNSEA confirms mobilizations, rather from Tuesday or even Wednesday in the department. Demonstration type operations and blocking points. Rural Coordination 37 says it is waiting for its national congress scheduled for Wednesday.
7 h. Hello and welcome to this live.
Here is what you need to know at the start of the day to follow the mobilization of farmers:
Update at 7 a.m.
- Agricultural unions (FNSEA, Young Farmers, Rural Coordination) are firmly opposed to the free trade agreement that the European Union wishes to sign with the Mercosur countries: Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, in particular. The “straw” that breaks the camel’s back, says the FNSEA while the demands are multiple: administrative simplification, support for treasuries, strengthening food sovereignty.
- The mobilization, which began this Sunday, November 17, continues more intensely this Monday, November 18, the opening day of the G20 in Brazil.
- From Sunday, convoys of tractors began to converge towards Yvelines, more precisely towards air base 107 of Vélizy-Villacoublay, a symbolic site since it is there that the head of state takes the plane for his trips to the ‘stranger.
- In all, 82 actions have been recorded in France, the head of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, said on BFMTV on Sunday.
- According to the Yvelines prefecture, it is advisable to avoid the following roads, in the province – Paris direction on Sunday, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and in the other direction on Monday, until 2 p.m.: the A10, N118 , RN104, RN20, RD74, RD17, RD117, RD19, RN12, D44.
