Baptism of fire for the new prime minister. Appointed a little over two weeks ago, Gabriel Attal has been facing his first social protest for several days: that of farmers. Anger which has been fueled, according to those mainly concerned, by regulations, particularly environmental, that are too restrictive, income that they consider to be too low, or even very demanding paperwork. While the agricultural world has increased the number of highway blockages and damage to public buildings and large areas, giving the impression that the movement has hardened, the FNSEA has listed a whole series of demands, including “immediate” aid. “.
After a few days of arbitration, the head of government, alongside Marc Fesneau and Christophe Béchu, finally went on Friday afternoon to a cattle farm in Montastruc-de-Salies (Haute-Garonne). Space where he spoke with around forty farmers, before presenting the measures supposed to respond to their anger. “There is healthy anger, but there is no justified violence,” insisted Gabriel Attal, at the start of his speech, who “decided to put agriculture above everything”, and to open “a new chapter for French agriculture” on this “day of shock”.
Le Figaro takes stock of the Prime Minister’s announcements, who did not “want to tell farmers how to do their job”, but came to “say how we are going to let farmers do their job.” With three pillars that will guide the action of the head of government: “Act to defend income”, “simplify and facilitate the lives” of farmers, and “prepare the future of our agriculture”.
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The government will take “ten immediate simplification measures”, by decree, starting this Saturday, announced Gabriel Attal. The exceptional deadline for water reservoir authorizations will notably be reduced to two months instead of four, and appeals will be simplified by the removal of an administrative level. On this same subject, a “presumption of urgency” will be created “so that the judge decides in less than ten months” against an appeal.
The OFB will also be placed under the supervision of the prefect for controls, and meetings will have to be held with the government and farmers to come up with “common sense measures” such as, he suggests, no longer “coming armed when we come to check a hedge”, to reduce tension. The administrative control of operators cannot take place more than once a year.
Jumbled together, the Prime Minister also announced a simplification of the regulations on hedges (only one instead of 14 at present), the removal of “a certain number of inconsistencies on brush cutting” and a “pause » on the subject of wetlands to discuss zoning.
This subject was at the heart of farmers’ ire: the change in taxation of non-road diesel (NRG); fuel intended, among other things, for agricultural tractors. While farmers have the right to a partial reimbursement on the TICPE, one of the criteria, along with VAT, which sets the price, the latter tends to reduce over the years. Since the start of 2024, GNR has been taxed at 24.81 euro cents per liter, on which farmers pay 6.71 euro cents per liter. But this represents a surplus of 2.85 cents compared to last year.
This increase, which was to increase gradually until 2030, being castigated by the agricultural world, Gabriel Attal announced its pure and simple cancellation: “We are going to stop with this trajectory of increase in GNR”. Another central point, the tax discounts on this GNR will be deducted upon purchase, and no longer after the fact on proof, in the coming months. “By summer, when you receive your fuel, the deduction will be made immediately and the State will compensate the distributor for the deduction. It is a simplification and cash flow measure,” explained the Prime Minister on this very technical file.
If the head of government praised the merits of the Egalim law, which is “enormous progress”, these “are not always visible in the lives of farmers”. “I am quite lucid: in commercial negotiations, the farmer is not sufficiently protected,” affirmed Gabriel Attal, who intends to apply the law “everywhere without exceptions.” To do this, the government will first impose “three very heavy sanctions” against “important” companies which do not respect Egalim. Then, with the DGCCRF, “strengthen controls”. And finally, “put maximum pressure in the negotiations.”
Gabriel Attal also defended the benefits brought by the European Union, including the common agricultural policy (CAP). He recalled, on this occasion, that it corresponds to “nine billion euros per year” of aid to French farmers. Before recognizing, however, that it had to be simplified, ensuring that Emmanuel Macron “will commit to this subject next week at the European Council”. The president should also request a new exemption on the issue of fallow land.
The government will release 50 million euros in emergency aid for organic, promised Gabriel Attal. An envelope that will make it possible to come to the bedside of this sector in difficulty. The government had already committed to paying them 94 million euros in 2023.
The host of Matignon also announced an increase in compensation to support farms most in difficulty facing epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EMD), a new pathology which weakens cows. Gabriel Attal also mentioned a “budget of 50 million euros” and promised an “increase in the compensation rate to 90%” for breeders affected by this disease which appeared on farms in the southwest. And this, a few days after setting compensation at 80% for the value of dead cows and veterinary costs.
“France is very clearly opposed” to “the signing” of the controversial trade agreement between the European Union and the Latin American countries of Mercosur, argued Gabriel Attal. “I say it again here very clearly, very clearly. The President of the Republic has always opposed it and we continue and will continue to oppose it,” he added. It should be remembered that Mercosur and the European Union have been negotiating this agreement for years, which stumbles on environmental issues. It is also denounced by farmers, who fear unfair competition from South American products.
In addition to the announcements, the Prime Minister also criticized, on a more political level, “those who oppose the defense of our farmers and the defense of the environment”, considering that farmers were “the first victims of the degradation of the environment”. “In the priorities of our action, not leaving our agriculture at the mercy of unfair competition is an absolutely major issue,” he also said in this Haute-Garonne farm.
