FEBRUARY 23, 2024:
PARIS (AP) — Angry farmers were back in Paris on their tractors in a new protest Friday (Feb. 23, 2024) demanding more government support and simpler regulations, on the eve of a major agricultural fair in the French capital.
Dozens of tractors drove peacefully into Paris carrying flags from Rural Coordination, the farmers’ union that staged the protest. The protesters then posed with their tractors on a bridge over the Seine River with the Eiffel Tower in the background, before heading towards the Vauban plaza in central Paris, where they all gathered for the demonstration.
The latest protest comes three weeks after farmers lifted roadblocks around Paris and elsewhere in the country after the government offered over 400 million euros ($433 million) to address their grievances over low earnings, heavy regulation and what they describe as unfair competition from abroad.
“Save our agriculture,” the Rural Coordination said on X, formerly Twitter. One tractor was carrying a poster reading: “Death is in the field.”
The convoy temporarily slowed traffic on the A4 highway, east of the capital, and on the Paris ring-road earlier on Friday morning.
French farmers’ actions are part of a broader protest movement in Europe against EU agriculture policies, bureaucracy and overall business conditions.
Farmers complain that the 27-nation bloc’s environmental policies, such as the Green Deal, which calls for limits on the use of chemicals and on greenhouse gas emissions, limit their business and make their products more expensive than non-EU imports.
Other protests are being staged across France as farmers seek to put pressure on the government to implement its promises.
Government officials have held a series of meetings with farmers unions in recent weeks to discuss a new bill meant to defend France’s “agricultural sovereignty,” and which will be debated in parliament this spring.
The government’s plan also includes hundreds of millions of euros in aid, tax breaks and a promise not to ban pesticides in France that are allowed elsewhere in Europe. French farmers say such bans put them at an unfair disadvantage.
Cyril Hoffman, a cereal producer in the Burgundy region and a member of the Rural Coordination, said farmers now want the government to “take action.”
He said his union is advocating for exempting the farming industry from free trade agreements.
“They can make free trade agreements but agriculture should not be part of them, so we can remain sovereign regarding our food,” Hoffman said. “Only in France do we let our farming disappear.”
French President Emmanuel Macron planned to visit the Paris Agricultural Fair on Saturday, though his office appeared to have removed his agenda a previously scheduled “big debate” with farmers and members of environmental groups at the event.
The president will meet with farmers’ unions before the fair’s opening, his office said late Friday.
Yet France’s major farmer’s union, the FNSEA, said Friday its board decided not to participate in the debate because “conditions for a peaceful dialogue are not met.” The FNSEA staged another protest in Paris, near the site of the fair, on Friday afternoon.
The Paris Agricultural Fair is one of the world’s largest farm fairs, drawing crowds every year.
FEBRUARY 1, 2024:
Extended version:
JANUARY 31, 2024:
HALLE, Belgium (AP) — Farmers blocked more traffic arteries across Belgium, France and Italy on Wednesday (Jan. 31, 2024), as they sought to disrupt trade at major ports and other economic lifelines. They also moved closer to Brussels on the eve of a major European Union summit, in a continued push for better prices for their produce and less bureaucracy in their work.
The protests had an immediate impact on Wednesday, as the EU’s executive commission announced plans to shield farmers from cheap exports from wartime Ukraine and allow farmers to use some land that had been forced to lie fallow for environmental reasons.
The plans still need to be approved by member states and parliament, but they amounted to a sudden and symbolic concession.
“I just would like to reassure them that we do our utmost to listen to their concerns. I think we are addressing two very important (concerns) of them right now,” EU Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič said.
The rallies are part of farming protests across the 27-nation EU and have shown how only a few hundred tractors can snarl traffic in capitals from Berlin to Paris, Brussels and Rome. Millions across the bloc have been facing disruptions and struggling to get to work, or seen their doctor’s appointments canceled because protests blocked their way.
“It obviously has a major economic impact. Not only for our company but for many companies in Flanders and Belgium,” said Sven Pieters of the ECS transport company in Belgium’s Zeebrugge North Sea port.
A climax in Belgium is set for Thursday, when farmers plan to protest outside EU headquarters during a summit of government leaders. They will seek to get their issues on the summit agenda and win some concessions on the financial burdens they face and the increased competition from nations as far away as Chile and New Zealand.
“It is important that we listen to them,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said. “They face gigantic challenges,” from adapting to climate change to countering environmental pollution, he said.
Belgium currently holds the EU presidency and De Croo said that he would address the issue during the summit as a late addition to an agenda centered on providing aid to Ukraine, after Russia’s invasion nearly two years ago.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he wants to hold off on a free trade deal with South American nations because of the vehement opposition of EU farmers and will discuss the issue at the summit.
Despite the widespread inconveniences, governments in the EU are treating protests, which have been mostly peaceful, with extreme caution.
Spanish farmers were also set to add their weight to the protests. Three main Spanish farming associations agreed to begin protests in the coming weeks to demand changes in what they describe as overly restrictive EU policies.
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