“The government did not want farmers in the capital”: the Hérault president of Rural Coordination describes the demonstration in Paris

Les candidats Héraultais aux élections à la chambre. DR – DR

De retour de la mobilisation nationale de la CR et à quelques jours des élections à la chambre d’agriculture, le président de la CR 34, partage les revendications de la CR.

“We would like to be able to live from our profession already. We are the only profession to work below production costs. In France it is forbidden to work for nothing, but in agriculture we lose money, our costs have increased by 50 to 60% while prices are falling as much for cereals as for wine…”, brandishes Benjamin Bajada straight out as the first of the demands.

A few days before the elections to the Chamber of Agriculture, the president of the Rural Coordination of Hérault, once again reels off a string of grievances: “the overtransposition of standards” which leads to “unfair competition of products that enter the country”; “They talk to us about High Environmental Value, it's more paperwork, more controls, and, in the end, we don't pay more for wine while we bring in wine from Spain… All the while talking about simplification. And on top of that, we've killed organic!”, chokes the union representative.

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The treaty with Mercosur in the crosshairs

In the crosshairs of last weekend's mobilization, where the CR had set up a national movement on January 5, 6 and 7, heading for Paris, the criticism of the European free trade treaty with Mercosur is also making people grind their teeth. “We are told about the ecological impact, but importing meat from South America is just mind-blowing. When we say we are walking on our heads, we really are.”It was also an opportunity for the president of the CR 34 to criticize the president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, who is also the head of the board of directors of “Avril”, a French agro-industrial group that has invested in Brazil in a company that produces and distributes castor oil. “This is not compatible with the defense of French agriculture”, he judges.

18 candidates in the running for the CR 34

“We are organizing a campaign aperitif, à Fabrègues this Friday, January 10*, to present our running mates who are running for the Chamber of Agriculture”, explains Benjamin Bajada, president of CR 34. In addition to the president and vice-president of CR 34 (Laurent Crouzet), the union is lining up 18 candidates and 2 substitutes for the elections on January 15 and 21. À Fabrègues, " We are going to talk about the difficulties we are encountering and the fight we are waging to make our voices heard and move things forward. The chamber can be an effective lever to counter absurd laws. We want to mobilize abstainers, people who no longer believe in the majority unions. “

At the Mijoulan estate, à 7 p.m.

As for the national mobilization, in Paris, the Montpeyrousien, like several mobilized farmers, was fined €135 for “an incitement to demonstrate that I contest. And those who had the yellow CR cap were fined a total of €270”, says the cereal farmer who testifies to the enormous means deployed to counter the mobilization.

Véronique le Floc’h, national president of the union deplores: “the absurd arrest, Sunday afternoon, of Christian Convers (general secretary of the CR), the verbalization of dozens of members in the streets of Paris for wearing yellow hats, racial profiling…”. Not enough to extinguish the determination of farmers who also wanted to show their solidarity.

“We were there, too, to support a a farmer from Gers who risks losing his farm and his house after suffering a series of disasters on his farm. Symbolically, we wanted to bring a goat in front of the Elysée to challenge the government. But we understood that the CR is very badly seen in Paris. Whether by tractor or on foot, the government did not want farmers in the capital”, concludes Benjamin Bajada.

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