The anger is still raw. The Rural Coordination, the second agricultural union, plans to call on farmers to “go to Paris” and block access from Sunday January 5, if it has not obtained a meeting with the Prime Minister.
“We are already organizing ourselves, setting meeting points. The idea will be to block access” to the capital from Sunday, indicated Patrick Legras, spokesperson for Rural Coordination (CR), on RMC, confirming his calls for the mobilization of “all farmers”, union members or not.
“We must understand the urgency for farmers. If we have not obtained an appointment with François Bayrou and (the Minister of Agriculture) Annie Genevard by Thursday, after the return of the Prime Minister from Mayotte, we will call to go to Paris,” he insisted to AFP.
This call comes a few days before the official launch of the campaign for the elections to the chambers of agriculture, which begins on January 7. The vote, which will take place online or by mail from January 15 to 31, will determine the new balance of power between agricultural unions.
Punching actions
One of the challenges of this election will be to see to what extent the CR, whose yellow caps have gained visibility since last winter’s crisis, can shake up the hegemony of the majority FNSEA-Jeunes Agriculteurs alliance.
The CR, which chairs three chambers, estimates that it can steal around fifteen from the FNSEA, which holds 97. The third representative union, the Confédération paysanne, chairs only one chamber, that of Mayotte – and will keep it for the moment, the ballot being carried back to the devastated island.
Customary of punchy actions, the CR wants to obtain guarantees from the Prime Minister for the defense of a French “agricultural exception”, focused on the defense of small farmers whom it considers crushed by free trade.
“We want to be controlled but also to control imports. Today we let m… products into our country. And then we no longer want any further transpositions of European rules (…): we must have the same rules to avoid unfair competition,” Patrick Legras told AFP.
The FNSEA-JA alliance also requested “an emergency meeting” with François Bayrou after his appointment, to request “the immediate resumption of work to respect the promises made” during the sector’s protest movement in winter last.