VIDEOS – Agricultural crisis, budget, social plans: what to remember from the interview with Michel Barnier

Almost a year after the start of the farmers' movement, anger still rumbles in the profession. The main agricultural unions, FNSEA and Young Farmers in the lead, called for national mobilization starting next Mondayand “until mid-December”. Actions have already taken place in many regions in recent weeks. In this very tense context, Prime Minister Michel Barnier was this Friday the exceptional guest of the special edition of Ma France.

“I stand with the farmers”

“I do not forget what I learned when I had the honor of being Minister of Agriculture. I am alongside the farmers”assured the Prime Minister. “I will do what was said by previous governments.”. The farmers are “men and women who work a lot to not earn much and who do a vital job“. Michel Barnier promises that “Farmers can have confidence in the government, I will do everything I can, the government will keep all its commitments.”

“I am very moved by listening to Stéphane”, sympathizes Michel Barnier, while this 59-year-old farmer, walnut producer in Bergeracois, recounts his distress on the airtears in his voice. “My employees worked for the walnut harvests,” she explains on the air. “They go to great lengths, they are never absent, and at the end of the month I'm going to tell them it's over, 'I can't afford to pay you'”. Her daughter, she says, “doesn't want to take over the farm and see mom working 13 hours a day and being on the verge of suicide. It's not a dream.” According to her, they are “a lot” farmers, like her, to “take it upon themselves” and think about ending their days: “We can rest”, she concludes.

“We must hold on”urges the Prime Minister. “We must not leave these men and women alone in their distress, their loneliness. There are organizations to help psychologically and financially, we are putting in place emergency aid,” he emphasizes. It's necessary “respect distress and respond to it”continues the head of government, recalling that in the nut sector, “We ban certain products to treat illnesses and we have no alternative formula.”

Mercosur: “We refuse this unfair competition”

On the possible signing of the Mercosur agreementfree trade agreement between the European Union and Latin American countries widely criticized by farmers, Michel Barnier recalled that “neither the President of the Republic, nor the Prime Minister that I am, nor the farmers will accept the agreement as it stands.”

“France will oppose, in all the bodies in which it sits, any premature agreement which does not comply with the interests of European agricultural sectors.“, he insists. What farmers “do not accept and I neither, it is that tens of thousands of tonnes of beef return to France with breeding conditions which are different from those imposed. We refuse this unfair competition“, he assures.

If it is necessary “find partners”France “is not alone”, assures the Prime Minister, “There are other countries that share the same concern.”

“On simplification, things have been done”

On France Bleu, Antoine Ledouble, a cattle breeder in Auboncourt-Vauzelle in the Ardennes, questions the Prime Minister on the administrative burdens that overwhelm him : “Today, we are reaching the point where it is better to spend time filling out paperwork than taking care of your animals. Today it is better to fill out a paper and let a cow die than the other way around. didn't sign up for this job to do that. I don't understand why we can't simplify things.”

The Prime Minister recalls that “on simplification, things have been done”evoking “single control of all administrations”the “plan loup” or even the “ditch cleaning”. “Sometimes it takes more time, legislative steps to take place”he also emphasizes.

Budget: the effort requested from departments will be reduced

Michel Barnier assured that the effort that will be required of the departments will be “reduced”. Several departments have threatened to suspend RSA payments in the face of the savings requested from communities in the 2025 budget.I had 15 days to present the budget, it can be improved, it is not perfect”, concedes the Prime Minister. “We will adapt this effort so that it is fair”, he said. If the“we must reduce our debt”, the departments “are in charge of social action and I don't want us to touch the most deprived, the most fragile.”

Without a majority in the National Assembly,“if we have to use 49.3 we will use it, I will take my responsibilities” to have the budget adopted, also confirmed the head of governmentemphasizing having “let the debate take place in the National Assembly”. “We need a budget”he recalls. Its adoption will take place “at the end of December, probably around December 18-20.”

By then, admitting to being a Prime Minister “on borrowed time”, “everyone knows” what “the conjunction of votes from the left, from the extreme left, with the RN can bring down the government”, he admitted, “but everyone must take responsibility”, called Michel Barnier, insisting again that he “you need a budget”. 49.3 may be followed by a motion of censure in the National Assembly.

Asked about social plans at Michelin and Auchan in particular, Michel Barnier indicates that “the State must ensure that the law is respected, that employees are supported, informed, and that recovery solutions are supported”. If layoffs sometimes cannot be “prevented” pour “lots of reasons”it's necessary “legal, regulatory and above all human and financial treatment”.

“I have confidence”however indicated the Prime Minister, referring to “dialogues with companies”: “I have the experience of factories which had to close and which ultimately did not close, because they were helped, because we looked for buyers (…) where there were reconversions, where new businesses were created.

“I want France to be a land of production”, he assures, “not just services and consumers who buy products made in China or the United States”, “that France consolidates its industrial and agricultural ambition”.

“There is an urgent need to control illegal immigration”

Another subject addressed by the Prime Minister: immigration. “There is an urgency to control illegal immigration, because we are creating an unbearable situation at home and we are not welcoming people,” believes Michel Barnier, supporting the need for a new immigration law which will be proposed by the government at the beginning of 2025.

“Welcoming refugees is our honor”affirms the head of government who, “for the rest”wanna “control our immigration”. It's necessary “that people are dissuaded from coming to us, that we can choose the level of economic immigration that we need, and sometimes expel non-French people who commit crimes or misdemeanors here.”

Legalizing cannabis: “I’m not thinking about it”

Asked about the legalization of cannabis for curbing violence linked to drug traffickingMichel Barnier “don’t think about it”he says. “I think an easy way out. At the end of the chain, there are those who buy, who destroy their health by using drugs. And then there is the one who sells, when you go up the chain, you fall on major traffickers These are the major networks that we are targeting with the plan to combat organized crime and drug trafficking. presented by the Ministers of the Interior and Justice. “So we’re not going to facilitate drug use,” decides the Prime Minister.