Blockades against farmers increased in France on Wednesday, despite the government's attempts to suppress this movement of rural anger spreading across Europe and particularly directed against EU policies.
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The discontent, which has also spread to Spain and Italy, is particularly strong in France, where farmers have been blocking several highways to Paris with their tractors since Monday, triggering a new crisis a year after the controversial pension reform.
On Wednesday morning, the tractors also continued their advance to encircle Lyon (southeast), the third largest city in France. Further north, a convoy of farmers from the southwest is on its way to the Rungis fresh produce market, the largest in the world, supplying the Paris region.
European politics that are too complex, incomes that are too low, inflation, foreign competition, especially from Ukrainian products, rising fuel prices: France's demands are found in most European countries facing dissatisfaction with agriculture.
“We don’t necessarily want to be lulled by aid; above all, we want profitable prices,” explained Johanna Trau, a grain farmer and breeder mobilized in eastern France, at one of the “100 closure points” identified by the authorities.
Despite support measures including the waiver of the diesel tax and 80 million euros in aid for wine growers, the government has so far failed to put out the fire and is also trying to mobilize on the European front.
The Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau is traveling to Brussels on Wednesday to talk about “European emergencies” and Paris has decided to embark on a “showdown” with the European Commission to address what is currently happening with the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina , Uruguay, Paraguay).
This free trade agreement with important agricultural countries “is not good for our growers and cannot and must not be signed in its current form,” French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told broadcaster CNews on Wednesday.
Paris had already made loud and clear its opposition to the conclusion of this trade agreement, which led to tensions with the European Commission, which is responsible for trade negotiations for the twenty-seven.
President Emmanuel Macron, who refuses to “blame everything on Europe” but vows to defend several demands from French farmers in Brussels, will meet with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday on the sidelines of a European summit.
The Commission has already made concessions on the issue of forced decommissioning.
“Lobby”
The movement of anger is spreading across the continent: after demonstrations in Germany, Poland, Romania, Belgium and Italy in recent weeks, the three largest Spanish agricultural unions have announced “mobilizations” across the country in the next few weeks.
Impromptu demonstrations have also taken place in Italy in recent weeks, where dozens of farmers who described themselves as “betrayed by Europe” protested with their tractors near Milan (north) on Tuesday.
The Greek government, also facing increasing protests from the agricultural world, promised on Tuesday to speed up the disbursement of financial aid to farmers affected by severe floods last year.
The new CAP, which has tightened environmental commitments since 2023, and the European Green Deal (or “Green Deal”) legislation – even if they have not yet come into force – are emerging in the anger.
France is the main recipient of European agricultural subsidies, with more than 9 billion euros a year, but its farmers denounce a CAP that is independent of the field.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, appointed less than a month ago, assured on Tuesday that “there must be an exception for French agriculture” and promised that the government would be “there” to respond to the crisis.
The French police, who were mobilized en masse, were initially instructed to keep their distance. Farmers “don’t fly into Rungis, they don’t enter Paris airports, not in Paris. But if they ever had to do it, I repeat of course, we would not allow it,” warned Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.