In Perpignan, farmers have returned the city signs but are still demanding

A few were hung on the barriers along the Basse, the river which barely flows past the prefecture in Perpignan. The others piled up carefully on the sidewalks of the Catalan city. But there are dozens and dozens of these road signs, entering or leaving the city. At the call of the FDSEA and the Young Farmers of the department, around 150 demonstrators marched this Tuesday morning in the city in a “funeral procession” behind a coffin.

The procession brought together, in addition to farmers from all sectors, some elected officials from the department, the deputy Anaïs Sabatini, the president of the association of mayors of the department Edmond Jorda, the president of the department Hermeline Malherbe. And farmers have therefore returned the road signs removed from the entrances to towns and villages in recent weeks to signify that “we no longer know where we are going. »

“We are returning the panels but we still have not obtained answers to the requests we made to Annie Genevard, the Minister of Agriculture. We even wonder if she has not forgotten where the Pyrénées-Orientales are located,” railed Bruno Vila, president of the FDSEA of the Pyrénées-Orientales. The demands have not changed: payment of social contributions, exemption from property tax, emergency aid for the most affected sectors, vines and livestock.

Livestock breeding and viticulture particularly affected

As for the signs, they were waiting for us to collect them. “We have made arrangements for our panels to be collected by our agents but I hope that all the municipalities will be able to collect theirs,” worried the president of the department, Hermeline Malherbe. At the beginning of the afternoon, the procession had to split into several pieces to deposit waste at a few sensitive points, in particular the MSA Grand Sud mutual, accused of not doing enough despite the seriousness of the situation.

Two sectors are particularly affected this year again in the Pyrénées-Orientales department, livestock farming faced with bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic disease as well as vines. The grubbing plan should concern more than 2,600 ha, or 15% of the vineyard. Which is in addition to the 10 to 15% lost last year due to drought.