Anger of farmers: unions in Matignon this Tuesday, resumption of actions… should we fear an episode 2 of the movement ?

Doit-on craindre une seconde vague ? ILLUSTRATION MAXPPP – IMAGO/Daniel Scharinger

This Tuesday, March 19, 2024, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal will receive agricultural unions in a new attempt to appease the protest. However, on both sides of France, new actions are already being organized. Should we fear a resumption of the movement ?

Was it just a lull?? As the Prime Minister prepares to receive agricultural unions this Tuesday, actions are being organized in France. Although numerous measures have been announced by the government in recent weeks, the anger of the sector does not seem to be completely appeased. Will there be a second wave of protest ?

Also read: Anger of farmers: the Total site in Béziers blocked by men from Rural Coordination 34

Meeting in Matignon this Tuesday

Gabriel Attal will once again receive the FNSEA and the Young Farmers in Matignon this Tuesday, reports BFMTV. Earlier in the week, a meeting with Emmanuel Macron was postponed.

The president of the FNSEA Arnaud Rousseau then explained that the "conditions for emerging from the agricultural crisis"were not reunited. He pointed out in particular the fact that the unions are unable to agree on 4 or 5 strong measures. However, the government roadmap asked their representatives to find a compromise, without which a meeting "had no meaning", declared the Head of State.

Today's discussions with Gabriel Attal will aim to move forward with these agreements and take stock of the progress of the discussions and non-negotiable measures for the unions.

The big disagreements

In January, the main agricultural union, the FNSEA, made 120 demands to the government. Ecology, pesticides, agreements with distributors… Not all farmers agree on issues that bring them back to the very essence of their professions.

While some would like to return to more reasoned agriculture, in accordance with the world's new challenges, particularly climatic, others would prefer to concentrate on profitability that is increasingly difficult to achieve in the face of to a growing demand. With regard to the government, it is in particular the question of agricultural retirement which is stuck.

Beyond these dissensions, the FNSEA believes that the government is still not moving "at the right pace". If the union admits that progress has been made, it criticizes that priority is not given to farmers, who according to it are going through their " most serious crisis" for 30 years.

Actions organized in France and in the region

Since Monday morning, around twenty members of the Hérault Rural Coordination have been blocking the Total head office in Béziers, in solidarity with their colleagues who are carrying out a similar operation for a week in Pau.

Also read: "We don't have the right to give up" : Romain Angelras, new president of the Young Farmers of Gard

In the four corners of Haute-Garonne, reports France 3, convoy departures are announced. Traffic on the main roads towards Toulouse risks being disrupted. For farmers, "in the countryside, nothing has really changed" since the announcement of the government's measures. And even, according to them, "these are scoops that don't fill the fridge".

Same story in Orne, Oise, Cher or the Basque Country. If blockades such as those organized in Paris in January and February seem distant, scattered mobilizations testify to the persistent anger of the community.