Farmers begin the ‘siege’ of Paris and the Government asks them to limit the protest

The farmers French began this Monday the ‘siege’ to some of the main access roads to Parisbetween warnings from the Government so that this action is limited and does not harm the lives of citizens.

Since early in the afternoon, hundreds of tractors have begun to block several of the highways and national roads that lead to the capital, although they have also done so in other large cities, such as Marseille or Lyon.

“Pressuring Paris is putting pressure on the Government”Maxime Lievin, treasurer of the regional section of the FNSEA agricultural union, the main one in the country, clearly told EFE from a blocking post in Jossigny, which closes the A4 highway to traffic, which connects Paris with the rest of the country.

Here, as in other blockades, farmers have brought tents, barbecues and lighting equipment to spend the night and, as they say, as long as it takes.

Government “red lines”

The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, said since Sunday that there will be no “intervention” against limited road closures, but made it clear that there are “Red lines” that farmers cannot pass: blockades of the Rungis food market, the largest in Europe, or of the capital’s airports will not be tolerated.

Since this morning, a Gendarmerie riot unit equipped with tanks has been protecting Rungis (south of Paris), where merchants and restaurants throughout the capital region, which has more than 12 million inhabitants, are supplied with fresh products.

In total, some 15,000 police officers from different forces are mobilized throughout the country to keep this protest under control, which has been allowed since it began almost two weeks ago with the blockade of the A64 highway in the south of the country on the 18th.

A convoy of tractors left the southern city of Agen today with the stated objective of trying to block the Rungis market, although at the pace of these vehicles they will not arrive until tomorrow night at the earliest.

Farmers are demanding measures both at national and European Union levels to make their farms profitable, reduce bureaucracy and streamline administrative procedures.

Among other points, they ask for the elimination of the mandatory fallow imposed from Brussels, compliance with the law that forces the agri-food industry to pay fair prices or a new, more agile system to collect on time (and not more than a year late). the subsidy for agricultural diesel.

Above all, they claim to be victims of unfair competition, since they believe that many of the products that come from abroad are not obliged to meet the same health and environmental requirements that they must respect, something for which they blame the EU and the Government. French.

New measures from the Executive from tomorrow

The Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, held a meeting today with a small group of the Government, at the end of which the Executive spokesperson, Prisca Thevenot, announced that there will be new announcements starting tomorrow and in the coming days.

The leaders of the main agricultural unions met with Attal tonight at the Matignon Palace in an attempt to advance them some of the new measures, although no new measures are planned.

Attal could do so in his national policy speech scheduled for tomorrow before the plenary session of the National Assembly.

The protest accelerated today after the measures announced by Attal last Friday, in the department of Haute-Garonne where the protest began, have been considered insufficient by the various agricultural unions, who have decided to increase pressure on the Executive.

In parallel with the national measures, the Elysée said today that President Emmanuel Macron will propose to the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, a series of changes to the common agricultural policy, in particular on the obligation to leave fallow a 4% of their lands.

In addition, France also wants to place limits on the entry of certain Ukrainian products, in particular chicken, eggs and sugar, which were authorized without tariffs and without the EU’s own rules as a measure of support for Kiev for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Macron will make these requests during the Extraordinary Council that will take place next Thursday in Brussels.