PARIS: French farmers on tractors and trucks increased their blockade on Tuesday, causing multiple traffic backups and one deadly accident, as unions asked the government to halt its quest for lower consumer prices and less environmental rules.
“We will not lift the roadblocks as long as the prime minister does not make very concrete announcements… The time for talking is over; action is required,” said Arnaud Gaillot, president of the Jeunes Agriculteurs (Young Farmers) union.
The mounting indignation, which has spilled over from comparable agricultural discontent in neighboring nations, comes as campaigning for EU elections heats up, and it is the first significant issue for President Emmanuel Macron’s new prime minister, Gabriel Attal.
Hours after union representatives met with Attal on Monday evening, more tractor convoys headed out at night to block roadways, notably the A7 motorway in southern France.
In a photo shared by French media, the statement “Fed up with environment taxes” was sprayed in pink on a slurry tank blocking the traffic.
“We’re prepared for anything, we’ve got nothing to lose,” said Josep Perez, a protester interviewed by BFM TV at another barricade in the southern fruit-growing region of Agen.
According to police, a car collided with a roadblock in the southern Ariege district, killing one woman and seriously injuring two others.
France’s Agriculture Minister canceled his trip to a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels to visit the site.
Farming policy has always been a contentious issue in France, the European Union’s largest agricultural producer, where thousands of independent producers of meat, dairy, wine, and other products have staged disruptive protests.
Macron is concerned about farmers’ increased support for the extreme right ahead of the European Parliament elections in June, where Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National party is now dominating in polls.
Earlier this week, the government postponed a planned agriculture measure, citing a need to hear from farmer stakeholders. However, after initial meetings with union officials on Monday evening produced no results, farmers across the country announced that they will hold additional protests this week.
The farming lobby claims that the fury is fueled mostly by the government’s recent measures to combat inflation, coordinated by Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, which have urged shops and food corporations to lower consumer prices.
Patrick Benezit, the chairman of the FNB cattle farmer organization, on Tuesday, told a news conference the ensuing pressure on suppliers is being passed on to farmers, causing some to sell below true costs, which would go against a regulation aimed at guaranteeing fair prices.
“The government should enforce the law rather than having a finance and economy minister actively encouraging people to break it,” he stated when asked what the government should do immediately to calm the situation.
Benezit also chastised the government for what he saw as a “generalised political contradiction” generated by the EU’s recent push for stronger environmental legislation while pursuing free trade agreements such as the MERCOSUR accord with Latin America.
“They can’t ask farmers to comply with extremely strict regulations while allowing anything and everything onto the market”, he added.
