More than a month after the explosion of anger among farmers and three days before the opening of the Agricultural Show in Paris, Gabriel Attal spoke again this Wednesday morning, to try to calm the discontent which was not resolved. not soothe. Alongside his ministers Bruno Le Maire (Economy), Marc Fesneau (Agriculture) and Christophe Béchu (Ecological Transition), the Prime Minister explained during a press conference in Matignon “the monitoring and execution” of government measures presented on February 1, and announced some new measures.
A mine clearance operation, while the agricultural unions do not let up the pressure. “The time for political decision” has come, warned Tuesday evening the president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, who saw Emmanuel Macron and Gabriel Attal on Tuesday. “Expectations are very high,” according to the main farmers’ organization. Local protest actions have resumed in recent days. Like Tuesday evening, in Haute-Saône, against the global milk giant Lactalis, whose tanker truck was blocked by farmers who wanted to redistribute the milk.
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Even before Gabriel Attal’s press conference, the FNSEA and the Young Farmers (JA) announced that they had planned a “procession” in Paris on Friday evening, ending in front of the doors of the Agricultural Show. Rural Coordination, the second union in the sector, has also planned a demonstration for Friday in Paris.
“We will not lie, we will not betray,” said the Prime Minister. Gabriel Attal assured that he heard “the cry of anger” from the farmers which he analyzed as a “call to action”. And to list the grievances of farmers: “multiplication of standards”, “overtransposition”, “unfair competition”, “remuneration”. “Agricultural sovereignty is our course”, he insisted before hearing “prove to farmers that they can believe in it by measuring the progress made”.
Gabriel Attal recalled having agreed with the agricultural unions “on a list of commitments”. Out of 62 commitments made at the beginning of February, “100% of the sites have been opened,” said the Prime Minister. “In three weeks, we have achieved or are on the verge of doing so for eight out of ten commitments,” he said. More precisely, “50% (31) are already done, 31% (19) are well advanced and 19% (12) still require additional work,” specifies the government.
The future agricultural orientation bill, eagerly awaited by the profession, “recognizes in black and white in the law our objective of agricultural and food sovereignty, and recognizes agriculture among the fundamental interests of France,” affirmed Gabriel Attal, just like its security or its defense. This future bill will “also reaffirm the need to ensure the renewal of generations”, specifies the government, which adds that a section will be devoted “to the translation of measures for the simplification and competitiveness of farms”.
If the Egalim law “is a source of French pride” for the Prime Minister, “it must be improved and strengthened,” he said. Gabriel Attal recalled the launch of a parliamentary mission entrusted to two majority deputies Alexis Izard (Renaissance) and Anne-Laure Babault (MoDem) in order to propose by the end of the summer an evolution of the system by ‘summer. The head of government insisted on three issues: “the construction of prices”, “the place of production cost indicators” and “European purchasing centers”.
“A specific plan on livestock sovereignty is under discussion, which will recognize the contributions of livestock farming,” announced the head of government. “Reciprocal commitments will have to be made,” he added, specifying that this plan would be “presented at the Agricultural Show.”
“I accept that I want us to consume more French,” declared Gabriel Attal before announcing “a conference of solutions”, “associating the State and local authorities”. This must be “brought together by the ministers” by April in order to “accelerate in collective catering”, that is to say that communities integrate more sustainable and quality products, as well as organic, in collective catering.
Gabriel Attal announced that “99.61% of basic CAP aid” (common agricultural policy) has already been paid to farmers, with the objective of 100% by March 15. “In 2015, at this same time, 0% of payments had taken place and the payment had been made one year late,” explained the head of government from Matignon.
A subject of protest in the agricultural world, pensions were mentioned by the Prime Minister who points to “a lot of progress” on the subject since 2017, while setting a new objective aimed at “the most fragile”: “building a system that does not not penalize some farmers for the benefit of others. “The objective is to have a first implementation in the next financial texts for the fall,” he announced.
Faced with recruitment tensions, Gabriel Attal announced that a decree recognizing agricultural production as a “sector in tension” would be published during the Agricultural Show, in order to “greatly facilitate the allocation of visas” to bring in workers. foreign seasonal workers on French farms.
The Prime Minister also announced that the exemption from employer contributions on “almost all seasonal agricultural jobs” – the TO-DE system – would be made permanent and reinforced “from 2024”.
Gabriel Attal responded to the farmers’ request by announcing the abandonment of the indicator that France currently uses to measure the reduction in the use of pesticides – defended by environmental NGOs – for the European indicator. “I am announcing to you that the reference indicator for monitoring our objective of reducing phytosanitary products will no longer be the Franco-French Nodu but the European indicator. This is in line with our desire to avoid any overtransposition. It was the request of farmers,” declared Gabriel Attal, while affirming that he did not want to “give up on (the) ambition to reduce the use of pesticides by 50% by 2030.”
“I want to remind you that the President of the Republic was extremely firm regarding the Mercosur free trade treaty,” said the Prime Minister. “We will fight product by product. If it is prohibited for our farmers, it should not enter our country,” argued Gabriel Attal. “I have asked the European Commission to ban all imports of agricultural products containing thiacloprid,” indicated the Prime Minister, who must issue an order this Friday to ban the import of products containing this neonicotinoid banned since 2020 in the European Union.
Two European mass distribution purchasing centers which did not comply with the Egalim law are targeted by “pre-fines” amounting to several “tens of millions of euros”, which they have two months to contest , announced the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire on Wednesday, speaking following Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
Furthermore, Bruno Le Maire also took stock of controls regarding the French origin of products. In total, 1,000 establishments were inspected, and 372 were non-compliant. “I will notify the first reports in the coming days,” indicated the Minister of the Economy, recalling that the criminal sanction could “reach 10% of the turnover of the companies concerned”.
The Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau, for his part, specified the timetable for the agricultural bill. This will be “presented at the end of the week” and “deliberated in the spring” before a joint committee (CMP) can be organized “by June”. Thus, the government is aiming for adoption of the text “in the first half of 2024”.
The Minister of Agriculture also responded favorably to requests to simplify the shooting protocol against wolves threatening herds. “We will have a shooting order by the end of the week, which is simplified in accordance with the requests that had been made by many breeders,” declared Marc Fesneau.
