Faced with the anger of farmers, concern grows within the executive

French farmers are following in the footsteps of their European counterparts and have been blocking roads in the southwest of the country since Thursday. Enough to worry the executive and, first of all, Emmanuel Macron.

Are we heading towards a movement of anger among farmers in France? Emmanuel Macron asked on Friday January 19 that the prefects go to meet farmers this weekend, while the FNSEA, the main agricultural union, is studying the possibility of a major protest movement in the coming weeks. On Friday, farmers continued to block the A64 motorway between Toulouse and Tarbes and the RN 20 in Ariège. They denounce environmental standards considered too strict and especially delays in payment of certain state aid, or the planned end of the exemption for GNR, non-road diesel.

This is a clear sign: Emmanuel Macron, in person, is getting involved in the matter by calling for general mobilization. And the prefects are responsible for taking the pulse, listening to the farmers, all weekend, with one mission: to try to defuse the anger. It covers irritating subjects: the ecological transition, the price of fuel, the end of pesticides, but also the 10% increase in electricity prices and even negotiations with manufacturers.

“All this can have the effect of a pressure cooker.”

A member of the majority, who knows the file well

at franceinfo

This is the fear behind the scenes, that the demonstrations in the South-West will grow and aggregate other mobilizations. Like in Germany, where, for ten days, tractors have paralyzed the streets. Images that the government absolutely does not want to see arrive in France. In France, signs have already been returned by farmers at the entrance to several towns.

The situation in Germany was raised on Wednesday in the Council of Ministers by Stéphane Séjourné. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs has sounded the alarm. “It’s moving hard”grimaces an advisor who directly invokes the memory of the crisis of the “red caps” or that of the “yellow vests”.

The already very tense political context

“The president is very afraid, his fear is legitimate,” breathes a deputy from Les Républicains, who describes it “obsessed” by the European elections. “If we take a sheet of metal, he knows that it’s the end of his five-year term”, even blurted out a minister. The vote is scheduled for June 9, but the campaign has already launched.

Agriculture is a European subject. Europeans for whom a remote duel is taking place on Saturday January 20. Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally and party candidate, will be in Gironde in the afternoon to visit a farm and participate in a round table with farmers, a way of capitalizing on their anger. At the same time, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal will be in the Rhône, with a stated desire to address the rural world, he is organizing a major debate with 150 French people.

In the executive’s sights is also the opening of the Agricultural Show at the end of February. On Wednesday, the government will present its agricultural orientation bill to the Council of Ministers. The law deals with training and envisages generational renewal. It is supported by Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture, reinforced during the last reshuffle. “But he is damaged, tired, he is not unanimous”whispers a majority deputy, at the risk of Emmanuel Macron finding himself once again, alone, without a lightning rod and on the front line.