Farmers' crisis: actions planned in all departments are becoming clearer

The various agricultural unions are calling for mobilization in the coming days. The form and dates are beginning to be determined.

This end of the year is likely to be marked by strike movements. Farmers in particular plan to mobilize. As early as mid-October, the FNSEA-JA union alliance called for national actions “starting in mid-November”. In particular, they want to contest the possible signing of the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia), which could be concluded at the G20 in Brazil on November 18 and 19, although France is currently opposed to it.

The signing of this agreement could authorize the absence of customs duties on the import of meat, sugar or corn, as well as quotas for imports of beef Latin American exports of some 100,000 tonnes per year. Farmers are particularly concerned about the conditions in which animals are raised and deplore the fact that more and more foreign products are being brought into France.

Mobilizations but no highway blockades

As of this Wednesday, November 13, the Confederation Paysanne, the third largest union, has called for a rally in front of the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Paris. The Coordination Rurale, the second largest agricultural union, has, for its part, promised “an agricultural revolt” starting on November 19. They have called on farmers to demonstrate that day in front of the prefectures. At the end of this demonstration, the union expects a “strong and immediate decision from the State”, otherwise blockages of the "French food freight", i.e. food transport, could occur as early as November 20 "in order to give the government a taste of what our country will be like tomorrow, without farmer".

The president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, for his part launched, on France Inter, this Wednesday, a call for mobilization  "&starting Monday" in "all departments". He assured, however, that it was not a question of “blocking the highways”, as was the case last winter, but of addressing the public authorities. He assures that “the trade agreement with Mercosur will have “dramatic consequences” for agriculture. “The planned actions will be detailed during a press conference in Paris, this Wednesday afternoon.