French farmers withdraw from one-week blockade of Paris due to ‘food sovereignty deregulation’

French farmers withdraw from one-week blockade of Paris due to ‘food sovereignty deregulation’

French farmers' protests that blocked highways entering Paris for a week led to the withdrawal of protesters on the 1st due to government concessions, but the gap between French laws regulating agricultural and livestock products and European Union regulations was highlighted.
Prime Minister Attal responded to the French government's provision of a 1.5 billion euro aid package to livestock farmers, the imposition of clear EU-level regulations on synthetic meat, and farmers' demands for a ban on pesticides on imported agricultural products, including foreign treatment of the pesticide thiacloprid, which has been made illegal in France. It began to disband due to the ban on agricultural imports.
Prime Minister Attal said on the day, “France will not go overboard in implementing EU regulations,” and added, “Our exception to French agriculture is not just a matter of budget, but a matter of national pride and identity,” adding that “food sovereignty” was officially enshrined in French legislation. announced.
The French farmers' protest became a flash point due to the rising costs of the war in Ukraine and resistance to the influx of agricultural and livestock products from Ukraine, and spread throughout Europe.
Jérôme Bayle, a farmer who led demonstrators near Paris, spent seven nights leading dissatisfied farmers on France's main highways, and on the 1st, the prime minister, wearing a Parisian blue suit and tie, arrived at the scene. It ended by thanking them "for making France proud" and announcing that their demands would be met.
The New York Times, which covered the scene, said, “Before cameras flashed and microphones were extended, Mr. Bale, wearing a baseball cap on his head and dressed more casually, turned back and said to Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, “This standoff is due to the revolting farmers.” “I saw it as a match between two teams: the government led by Mr. Atal and Mr.
“It was clear that his team had won,” the NYT said, referring to the farmers’ team. “France’s major farmer unions were cautious about the announcement of a new government aimed at placating them in the first sign of a possible reprieve after more than a week of protests paralyzed transportation across the country on the 1st.” “After expressing satisfaction, we called for an end to road blockades across the country,” it was reported on the 1st.
The farmer protests are not completely over.
Arnaud Rousseau, president of the Federation of National Farmers' Unions (FNSEA), France's largest and most powerful farmers' union, told a Paris news conference that "action will not end" and that "it is changing."
"We cannot correct in 10 days the wrong decisions made over 20 to 25 years," Arnaud Gaillot, president of Jeunes Agriculteurs, France's second-largest farmers' union, said at a Paris news conference. He said.
French farmer unions said they would closely monitor the government's new financial support promises and easing of regulations ahead of a major agricultural fair scheduled to be held in Paris this month, the NYT reported.
President Macron said in Brussels today that he has asked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to create an European equivalent to French law that oversees price negotiations between farmers, the food industry and retailers.
Regarding bridging the gap with EU regulations, which is one of the issues of the farmer protests, President Macron said, “The EU will better enforce the ‘mirror clause’ of the free trade agreement, so that imports from other countries will be subject to the same environmental and sanitary rules as those in Europe.” It is expected that Europe's domestic agricultural product inspection standards will be expanded internationally.
In response, President Macron created a 'strengthened safeguard mechanism' to correct the distortion of agricultural products caused by the influx of grains from Ukraine, and implemented EU enforcement measures to resolve opposition from EU farmers by imposing tariffs on Ukraine's low-priced egg, poultry, and sugar products. The committee announced that it welcomes the proposal.
The final issue is environmental groups and green politicians demanding a ban on pesticides, and the application of French domestic law's testing for banned substances to imported agricultural products.
France's Marie Toussaint, a member of the European Union's National Assembly, said the government's 'deregulation' measures were "an unacceptable step backwards and a poisonous gift to the world of agriculture." “There will be no fundamental change in the model,” he said on Social Media X.
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said the government would carry out a "major overhaul" and prevent retailers and distributors from advertising products misleadingly claiming to be "made in France" or bearing the French flag on their packaging. He said today that he will crack down on companies that ignore laws that ensure that farmers receive fair wages during negotiations with the government.
Farm protection measures announced by the French government include financial support for farmers just starting their own farms and tax breaks for retirees.
Farmers across Europe outside of France began to protest against high inflation and the rising costs of the war in Ukraine.
The burden of high prices has worsened as governments seek to cut costs by cutting agricultural subsidies, and the European Union has begun imposing more regulations on farmers to meet climate and other environmental goals.
French farmers used tractors to block major roads in and around Paris, sending the city into chaos and serving as the first political test for newly appointed Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
“The peasants are following France’s deep-rooted revolutionary traditions,” said Édouard Lynch, professor of modern French history at the University of Lyon II. They blocked national highways to request government assistance and provided tastings to stranded drivers. “It worked so well that it created a model that farmers in the south-west followed suit a few months later,” he said of the road-blocking tradition of farmer protests.
“They always win little by little. It’s effective,” Professor Lynch, author of “The Peasant Uprising,” told the NYT. “Peasants make up less than 2% of the French population, but they are a big part of the national psyche.”
“This is partly because France industrialized relatively late,” he said. “The French have a real sympathy for farmers. Everyone says, ‘My father or grandfather was a farmer.’”
NYT said, “The French government responds to the suppression of environmental movements and other protests with regular deployment of water cannons and riot police armed with rubber bullets and grenade launchers, but it also restrained itself with almost sacred patience even when farmers sprayed liquid manure on government buildings.” “National opinion polls have shown overwhelming support for the movement started by farmers, and other actions have begun across the country,” reported ‘Citizens agree to block road blocks’.

Mr. Bale, a 42-year-old farmer who led the protest, demanded three specific solutions from the beginning, including easing the reservoir construction process, providing financial support to farms infected with epidemic hemorrhagic diseases, and withdrawing the tax cut on tractor fuel. Prime Minister Atal said on the 2nd Arrived at the protest site, Mr. Bale announced the end of the blockade and protests.

The NYT said, “While the heads of the two powerful farmer unions, full of their grievances, declared a siege of Paris, Mr. Bale and his colleagues returned to the barn to sort out all the work they had been neglecting.”

On the second day of the protests, a group of tractor troops, including Mr. Bale, arrived near the city of Carbone carrying hay bales on the highway between Toulouse and the Spanish border. When the gendarmerie showed up, Mr. Bale said that farmers would need concrete solutions to three pressing problems. He responded that he would not leave until he got a hold of himself or the officers shot him in the head.

NYT said, “As the days passed, their ranks grew, and eventually, under a blockade under a highway overpass, it transformed into the hippest hangout in town, with wild boars walking around and a DJ blasting music through loudspeakers,” and “A portable toilet was installed.” “Storage containers filled with hay were used as huge group beds, and mannequins dressed in peasant work clothes were hung on the overpass twice a day to express protests against the suicide rate of French farmers,” he said of the highway blockade.