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2024-11-24 Europe
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Someone else's chicken is disturbing. Macron is waging war with the EU over meat, rice and grain
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Olesya Orlenko
[REGNUM] The world's media are once again full of reports about protests by French farmers. Demonstrations of varying scale are taking place across the country, despite the fact that since the beginning of the year the government has been announcing measures that in one way or another satisfy the demands of dissatisfied agricultural workers voiced during previous demonstrations. Are the peasants' protests caused by the state of affairs or is their mood being manipulated?
The main reason for the ongoing farmers' protests is unanimously named as the EU's imposition of a trade agreement with the countries of the Mercosur common market of South America on France. It currently includes four countries: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Negotiations between these countries and the EU lasted for about 20 years and in 2019 culminated in the signing of an agreement providing for duty-free import of agricultural products produced there to Europe. This document has not yet been ratified by all EU countries, including France.
The problem is that chicken, beef, grain, rice and other products grown in Latin America were produced using antibiotics and pesticides that were long banned in European countries. As a result, the resulting products have a lower cost price and can be sold cheaper. This is what the French say will kill their agriculture.
The strangest thing is that the French authorities initially took the side of the farmers in this matter. During the first wave of protests, former Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire promised to “impose the will of France” on the EU leadership, claiming that the country had every opportunity to do so.
And now both President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Michel Barnier have clearly and repeatedly stated their firm intention to prevent duty-free import of products from Mercosur countries to the domestic market. So what are agricultural workers unhappy about?
Last year's demonstrations were organized by farmer unions of various political orientations: centrists, liberals, and even left-wing and far-right. The reason for the protests was not only the agreement with Mercosur, but also the duty-free trade with other Eastern European countries, in particular with Ukraine. And also the general decline in the country's agriculture, due to which there is a rapid reduction in enterprises in the industry.
Since then, the government has taken a number of measures to support French producers. In particular, it has introduced a number of tax breaks, established subsidy programs, and in April of this year, an inter-industry agreement was adopted regulating the relations of all workers involved in agriculture with state bodies, agricultural processing enterprises, trade operators and other parties.
However, farmers complain that not everyone receives subsidies, tax breaks do not apply to a number of important expenditure items, and state aid is generally very selective. And the implementation of the sectoral agreement had to be postponed due to early parliamentary elections, as a result of which the final settlement of the issue was postponed until 2025.
Lack of investment in agriculture means that farmers are left defenseless against natural phenomena. As a result, the last dry summer caused record low grain harvests. Moreover, French producers have been working at a loss for several years now, losing approximately 550 euros per hectare cultivated.
Agricultural workers are especially offended by the fact that the average citizen does not realize the importance of the problems facing them. After all, the lack of goods produced in the country can always be compensated for by importing, for example, from Ukraine. So supermarket shelves will not be empty. And therefore the demand to ban duty-free trade with Ukraine has not lost its relevance, although this time the media is trying to disguise it as much as possible from the French-speaking audience.
In addition to the farmers' daily work problems, there is also a social component associated with resentment towards the political class and the urban population, which they consider indifferent. Many politicians, with varying degrees of success, are trying to attract this category of voters to their side. Most of the accusations of attempts to manipulate their opinion are addressed to the "National Rally". However, the president's supporters are also trying to win the trust of the protesting farmers, in particular the "Village Union", which is called Macron's "pocket" party.
There is another circumstance. The organizers of the current demonstrations are the National Federation of Agricultural Workers' Unions (FNSEA) and the Young Farmers union. In addition to the ban on the agreement with Mercosur, the union activists are demanding the introduction or maintenance of a number of benefits, as well as a fairer purchasing policy from retail chains and distributors purchasing agricultural products.
But these are far from all the demands and problems that worry French farmers, including those protesting these days. They accuse the protest organizers of defending the interests of large producers to the detriment of small farmers.
Many believe that the reason for the FNSEA's activity is the upcoming elections to the French Chamber of Agriculture, which are scheduled to take place in January 2025. This body is run by the state and represents the interests of workers and organizations involved in the sector.
Unlike the Accounts or Industrial Chambers, members of the Agricultural Chamber work effectively with trade union workers, and therefore have great influence in regional and central government bodies. FNSEA is the largest association in this organization and has an absolute majority in a number of its local offices.
It is possible that the federation has mobilized supporters for some kind of election campaign, using the anger of distressed farmers to its advantage. At least, some protesters are voicing such concerns. At the same time, a significant number of agricultural workers see the current protests as an opportunity to once again highlight the industry’s problems.
On November 26, the French parliament is to consider the ratification of the agreement with Mercosur. At the same time, the EU, especially Germany and Spain, are strongly insisting that France must agree to ratify it. Otherwise, Mercosur member countries will expand their ties with China and Russia in search of alternative partners. Therefore, the future of French agriculture now depends on the outcome of the confrontation between Macron and the European Union.
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