Anger of farmers: the French and Spanish mobilization will end this Tuesday and the border will be unblocked

La mobilisation d’agriculteurs des deux pays, phénomène rare, a été “historique”, selon Jérôme Bayle. MAXPPP – MICHEL CLEMENTZ

French and Spanish farmers who are still blocking the two main cross-border crossing points this Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in particular to demand cheaper energy, should soon leave camp, according to one of the organizers of the mobilization.

"They are going to leave, by 10:00 at the latest it will be over", confided to the’ AFP Jérôme Bayle, breeder from Haute-Garonne who became a figure in the agricultural protest movement at the beginning of the year.

"We were heard"

Up to eight crossing points between Spain and France were blocked on Monday, all along the Pyrenees, from Catalonia to the Basque Country.

The A9 Montpellier-Barcelona motorway in both directions and the A63 Bordeaux-Bilbao motorway in the France-Spain direction were still blocked around 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, indicated to the’ AFP Vinci Autoroutes, their operator.

Other blockades, such as that on the Pont de Rei, not far from Fos (Haute-Garonne), had been lifted on Monday evening.

"It’was a punchy action, we were heard, the government called us&quot ;, rejoices Jérôme Bayle, who indicates that he spoke on the phone with Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Agriculture.

"We work hand in hand on both sides of the Pyrenees"

The stated objective of this operation, which began Monday morning, was "weigh" on the campaign for the European elections, the polls of which take place on June 9 in France, to demand cheaper energy and respect for mirror clauses (which involve imposing the same environmental standards on farmers from third countries than those provided for in the European Union).

The mobilization of farmers from the two countries, a rare phenomenon, was "historic", according to Jérôme Bayle. "They are not our enemies at all, we work hand in hand on both sides of the Pyrenees", he explained .

If Monday's action comes to an end, the French breeder nevertheless claims to have "warned&amp ;quot; the government: "We expect positive responses to our demands before the end of October or the beginning of November, or Europe will go up in flames."

On the Spanish side, the mobilization was led by local platforms, most of them born in recent months and organized via Telegram loops. One of them, the Catalan collective Revolta Pagesa (“peasant revolt”), indicated that it was fighting "for the defense of the earth" and "for food sovereignty"