The mobilization of farmers has not weakened for a week, particularly in the face of the possible ratification of the Mercosur treaty by the European Union. If in the South-West of France, several actions are carried out by agricultural unions, here in Côte-d’Or and Saône-et-Loire, the mobilization is more discreet. We nevertheless note the “fire of anger” which took place this Monday evening in Dijonorganized by the Young Farmers and the FDSEA of Côte-d’Or.
For his part, Rural Coordination announces a new action for next week: a large convoy of tractorswhich will leave Monday afternoon from Burgundy-Franche-Comté, to cross the entire Grand Est towards Strasbourg and the European Parliament. “We are going to block the European Parliament, and so for that, we are going to leave by tractor on Monday afternoon, we are going to make a convoy with the whole of the Grand Est. There will be a departure from the Côte-d’Or which will take place at me in Échalot”announces Cyril Hoffman, president of the Côte-d’Or Rural Coordination. “Today, we are in such a mess in terms of agriculture that we have to do something and we have to make the government understand that, if it continues like this, we are going to lose many more farmers! “There are Mercosur agreements that are going to be signed, and the plenary session next week is in Strasbourg.”
The goal: bring European countries together in this fight. “We must make it clear to all of Europe that we must find countries that will rally with us so as not to sign this treaty!”he explains. “Today, we have a government which tells us that it does not want to sign the treaty, but we only half believe it. I think that they are all in favor of signing it and that they make us believe the opposite.” And he warns: “It risks gaining momentum if we don’t get anything concrete, we won’t be content with words!”
Another problem highlighted: subsidized loans
A plus du Mercosur, Cyril Hoffman mobilizes for another subject : “Here, we are talking about Mercosur, but there is something else: our Minister of Agriculture granted us subsidized loans to rebuild our cash flow. We are against it! Today, a farm which is no longer able to pay our loans because of a bad harvest and therefore we no longer have cash flow, it is not by making a new loan, even a subsidized one, that we will succeed in paying the old loans, in addition to the one -there !”
He therefore asks it is up to the government to act concretely : “The only thing the government could do would be to force the banks to give us a year off on our deadlines, and push it back to the end of the schedule, to give us a breath of cash. That’s not going to solve everything, but This allows us to try to get us through the year without a whole system of paperwork which is complex in France.”
