European elections: will the Rural Alliance relaunch itself with the farmers’ movement ?

Laurent Jaoul, Louis Picamoles, Camille Hoteman, Willy Schraen et Robert Margé (de g. à dr.), le jour du lancement de la liste.en lice. – A.R.

The list led by Willy Schraen and several Occitans is not taking off in the polls. With news that affects it first and foremost, the general mobilization seems declared.

It’s the story of a little music that we don’t hear playing less loudly than expected.

On December 5, in Paris, from the restaurant L’Ambassade d’Auvergne, Willy Schraen, president of the National Federation of Hunters, carried on the baptismal font L’Alliance rural. A movement aiming to defend rurality in all its dimensions, by presenting a list in the European elections.

Willy Schraen in the lead

List of which Willy Schraen took the lead, before revealing a few first names not unknown in Occitanie: the mayor of the commune of Saint-Brès (Hérault), Laurent Jaoul, in third place, the Queen from Arles Camille Hoteman (native of Montpellier), in fourth position, and another Héraultais, Louis Picamoles, ex-player of the Montpellier rugby club in fifth position. Without forgetting the Béziers bull breeder Robert Margé, who will also appear on the list.

1% of voting intentions

But since this highly publicized introduction, the buzz around this candidacy seems to have quickly died down, with a somewhat sluggish take-off, and polls at half-mast, around 1% of voting intentions, never beyond.

A candidacy which could also have been suspected of remote control from the Élysée, the pro-hunting lobbyist Thierry Coste, often presented as Emmanuel Macron's unofficial advisor on the subject, proving to be one of the linchpins.

Breakup with Thierry Coste

Thierry Coste, who has now decided "to distance himself from the Rural Alliance" as he confirmed to us on Sunday: "I am a little distressed by this radio silence on the agricultural crisis. The Rural Alliance cannot only talk about leisure activities, hunting, or barbecues. We also need to talk about rural economy, purchasing power, these are the topics of the moment with environmental standards."

He pleaded for "a farmer at the head of the list, rather than Willy Schraen who would have been second, to be identified as a rural list, not a hunting list. It was decided differently…"

A salvo deemed unfair and false by several personalities who carry this list, and who suggest that it was they who "asked Thierry Coste to distance himself, not the’ reverse !".

Wine growers, breeders, fishermen, same fight ?

A Rural Alliance camp, where we are not overly worried: "We knew that it would really start in mid-January. Now we're not giving up. And we will be alongside the farmers, in all the demonstrations, Robert Margé assured us: "The president of the Aude winegrowers' union, Frédéric Rouanet, m’a explained that there had not been a single installation of young farmers in Aude in 2023. It’s tragic! We need to install young people, solutions exist, we will talk about them during the campaign. As we will talk about breeders or fishermen. This is our core target.

Opinion shared by Laurent Jaoul, "upset" by the deaths of the Ariège farmer and her daughter: "This drama highlights the current crisis of the agricultural world. It is imperative to question French and European policies, influenced by radical ecological orientations."

Proposals

And to propose, in bulk, "an immediate end to production cuts in the EU", "a ten-year moratorium on bans on molecules" quot;, "a European investment plan of 100 billion over 20 years to promote sustainable solutions".

He also recommends "the abolition of inheritance taxes for the transfer of agricultural holdings", "a zero-interest loan guaranteed by the BPI to facilitate installation of young farmers, or "the immediate end of the animal protection directive, accompanied by a public investment plan to bring small slaughterhouses up to standard.&quot ;

So many themes that will be developed during the campaign. For which the Rural Alliance seems determined not to miss the train of agricultural anger, which is arriving, launched, to hit it head on.

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