It will be a well-attended official trip. The Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard is expected mid-morning on a farm 10 km northeast of Béthune (Pas-de-Calais) and plans to meet with farmers there, according to her office. She will then go to an agricultural educational establishment in Arras.
This is the first time that the minister has traveled to the field since the start of the farmers' actions on Sunday. A moment which was undoubtedly not chosen at random when, according to the authorities, “mobilization appears to be decreasing” across the country compared to the start of the week.
Is the mobilization of farmers in France against the free trade treaty with the Mercosur countries running out of steam? Nothing is less certain… On Wednesday, the president of the FNSEA Arnaud Rousseau announced that the next demonstrations led by its members would take place next week, “Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday”, “to denounce obstacles to agriculture”.
Rural Coordination does not give up
This weekend, on the ground, the actions seem mainly to be limited to those of the yellow hats of the Rural Coordination. In the South-West, stronghold of this union competing with the FNSEA-Young Farmers tandem, blockages of logistics platforms continued on Wednesday, in particular access to the commercial port of Bordeaux and major retail purchasing centers. Supermarkets were also targeted.
At the scene of the Bordeaux demonstration, several dozen tractors and trailers from the CR du Lot-et-Garonne dumped large quantities of tires and waste on the roads giving access to port facilities.
And Karine Duc, a head of Rural Coordination, highlighted yesterday: “It is in these ports that we import cereals which are not subject to the same standards as ours, and this is something we want to denounce. »
In Bordeaux, the blockade continues this Thursday morning.
For the European automobile industry, a “limited impact” of Mercosur
Earlier on Wednesday, Rural Coordination lifted its blockade of the A9 motorway linking Spain to France that it had installed the day before. Elsewhere, farmers notably blocked the prefecture of Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes) and a highway in Nièvre, according to the authorities.
On the mobilization of farmers, Minister Genevard judged Wednesday evening that“we cannot accept that there are excesses”.
“We have set the framework which does not exclude dialogue, which does not exclude protest, because it is legitimate”she added, while her colleague from the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, had mentioned on Sunday a “zero tolerance” in case of « lasting blockage ».
This new episode of agricultural demonstrations comes a few weeks before professional elections. The Rural Coordination, the second union in the sector, intends on this occasion to break the hegemony of the majority alliance FNSEA-JA.
France still opposed to Mercosur
Concerning the free trade treaty, the Minister of Agriculture reiterated on Wednesday the government's opposition to the Mercosur agreement, and its desire to bring together a blocking minority within the EU to prevent it, an effort with uncertain results, while a debate on this subject will be held in the National Assembly next Tuesday.
“No one can say today that there is no blocking minority. We are working hard on it”promised the minister on BFMTV: “ We will do everything we can to prevent this agreement which is bad”.
(With AFP)
