Road blockages continue: agricultural unions maintain pressure after Gabriel Attal's announcements

"Buy French"

The head of government also promised faster emergency aid for sectors in crisis, with "a substantial envelope" to come for viticulture and 50 M€ for the organic sector.

The government "is’opposed",moreover, at the signing of the trade agreement between the EU and the Latin American countries of Mercosur and wishes to strengthen the agricultural independence of the country, explained the tenant of Matignon, who calls on all public procurement actors at "buy French".

The announced lifting of the A64 dam

On the highly anticipated subject of non-road diesel (NGR), Gabriel Attal announced his decision to put an end to a "Kafkaesque system" . The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, announced in September 2023 the elimination of the "tax niche" for this fuel used by farmers.

Decision which has had the effect of increasing the price of GNR per liter since the start of the year, which puts a further strain on farmers' finances. "We are going to stop with this upward trajectory on the GNR", explained Gabriel Attal, promising, in addition, an "immediate return to the pump of the exemption".

"We received the message five out of five"

"We can't wait any longer – the message, we received it five out of five", assured the Prime Minister. There is "healthy anger", he estimated, displaying his desire to & quot;putting agriculture above everything else".

After listening attentively to the government's announcements, Jérôme Bayle, leader of the movement in Haute-Garonne, told journalists that there were & quot;high chance" that the blockages will be lifted. "I think we won", he said, before announcing the lifting of the blockage on the A64, this Saturday, at noon.

"The call is to maintain mobilization"

But for the president of the FNSEA, as for other unions, the account is not there. "The watchword this evening […] the call is to maintain mobilization", explained Arnaud Gaillot, president of Young Farmers, on BFMTV.

"We will continue to remain mobilized", confirmed the spokesperson for the Peasant Confederation, Laurence Marandola, on RTL. "It's not necessarily roadblocks, there will be different forms of mobilization, on the road, on roundabouts, in front of supermarkets, inventive ways of saying to the government that it is very largely insufficient", she detailed.

"A new chapter"

"We heard you, had nevertheless affirmed a little earlier the head of government to all these professions which nourish France . Today is a startling day. This is a new chapter that must be opened for French agriculture, he insisted.

For many farmers, the page of protest is still far from being turned.