This Friday, December 13 in the morning, while an assembly was being held at the departmental council, around a hundred activists from the Peasant Confederation forcibly took over the hemicycle, under the stunned gaze of elected officials. From the podium, they demanded the end of the RSA under conditions, forcing, according to them, several breeders with low incomes to work fifteen hours a week outside their farm to continue to benefit from social income.
The DNA of the Peasant Confederation has therefore not disappeared. The department's historic union, once embodied by the famous José Bové, always knows how to surprise and carry out brilliant coups. Until now particularly silent, or even in the background since the return of agricultural anger in recent weeks, it returned to the forefront yesterday. Almost himself being surprised by the mobilization… “There are really many of us guys! », repeated, all smiles on the microphone, a spokesperson. It was not yet 9 a.m. and Place Charles-de-Gaulle, in front of the departmental council, was already filled with yellow flags and green signs on which only two clear messages appeared: “Aveyron: more than 500 farms in RSA” and especially “Viala, don’t touch the RSA”…
To the platform of the hemicycle
This was the order of the day and the timing was particularly good: at the same time, all the elected representatives of the departmental council were to meet inside the building to discuss the future budgetary orientations of the community. They witnessed, surprised and impassive, the arrival in force of the Conf' activists in the hemicycle!
The few police officers present, less than ten, were unable to contain the compact crowd passing through the doors to the rhythm of “we’re going to go back, we’re going to go back, we’re going to go back”…
At the podium, Arnaud Viala had no other choice than to leave the microphone to the representatives of those who call themselves “small farmers”… Breeders, dairy farmers, market gardeners, beekeepers and above all particularly angry farmers. faced with the Department's experimentation on the famous RSA under conditions. As a reminder, this system, recently launched in Aveyron, requires obtaining solidarity income in exchange for completing at least 15 hours of weekly activity.
“We received emails asking us to find part-time work, how do we survive now? How do we manage to work on our farms and fifteen hours a week elsewhere? This signals the death of very small farms! For many, this RSA is an essential palliative for the shortcomings of current agricultural policies that do not allow a decent income,” several members of the Peasant Confederation chanted into the microphone.
“We know how to be received: we will come back if necessary”
Before that, Arnaud Viala had presented himself on the entrance steps of the department council to meet the demonstrators. He assured that no farmer would be affected by the RSA system under conditions. This did not calm the anger. Shortly before 10 a.m., in front of his hemicycle, he agreed to a meeting in the afternoon with a delegation from the Conf'. “Ah well now we know how to meet you: we’ve been asking for an interview for six months, with no return! From now on, we will come back if necessary,” smiled the union representatives on the platform, while in the room certain exchanges were improvised with elected representatives… farmers. “Stop a little, we can get by with a farm in Aveyron,” said Brigitte Mazars, a breeder in Bas-Ségala and partner of André At, also a breeder. Proof that although it often shares the same anger, the agricultural world is not always on the same wavelength.
The Conf', engaged in the campaign for the next elections to the Chamber of Agriculture next January, also wanted to say it, loud and clear: “For a while, you have seen, there are mobilizations everywhere. And we are really surprised by the difference in treatment from the unions: when the Rural Coordination repaints the prefecture with manure and tires, there is not a single police officer who looks up at Mr. Viala. While we always come out with 'big arms'… I remind you that we represent 25% of the farmers in this department” Enough to make an elected official say: “Go and fuck up the FDSEA or the Chamber of Commerce. agriculture then! » Before calm returns, shortly before 10 a.m. This time, the Conf' came out, without forcing the way.
“The departmental council assumes its policy. The gap between farmers and departmental elected officials is enormous […] We remain mobilized,” declared the delegation, a few hours later, after the meeting with Arnaud Viala.
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