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Video length: 27 min
Emmanuel Macron speaks at the Agricultural Show
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The Head of State condemned “all violence”, after clashes which took place upon his arrival at the Salon, which is held at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris.
“In three weeks I will bring together at the Elysée, therefore after the Agricultural Show, in calm, all the trade union organizations and sectors of the agricultural world to consolidate emergency measures.” Emmanuel Macron announced, Saturday February 24, the holding of a meeting to try to resolve the agricultural crisis, while clashes broke out, upon his arrival at 8 a.m., between demonstrators and the police. “The nature of the tension that there is in the agricultural world, at the time of this Show, today, does not allow us to find a way out of the crisis.”he declared, during a speech lasting almost 30 minutes, to journalists, following a closed-door meeting with representatives of agricultural unions.
“The first objective, in the short term, is for the Show to be held peacefully,” insisted the head of state. “You’re not helping any of your colleagues by breaking a few stands” and “scaring, in a way, the families who come,” pointed out Emmanuel Macron, who judged “counter productive” this type of attitude. He therefore called for the Agricultural Show “is going well, calmly”. “It’s a moment of pride, of recognition and therefore this show must go well, calmly for French agriculture”declared the Head of State, also noting that“we will not respond to this agricultural crisis in a few hours.” “Nothing justifies violence against people and property, period”he insisted.
“Never” invitation to Earth Uprisings
Emmanuel Macron also maintained that he did not “never thought of initiating” an invitation to the radical environmentalist collective Earth Uprisings for a major debate on the first day of the Agricultural Show, news which provoked the anger of farmers and triggered a boycott by the majority union. “I completely deny this information. Totally. I never thought of initiating such an invitation. And you are talking to the President of the Republic who took it upon himself to have the dissolution of the Earth Uprising passed through the Council of Ministers”, declared the President of the Republic to journalists. “This whole story made me angry to a point that you cannot imagine (…) So that’s nonsense.”
Emmanuel Macron sets several objectives for journalists: “Feed the French people”, “protect our soil, our country” and finally “the renewal” agricultural operators. “We will launch a census in each region of farms which are in the greatest cash flow difficulties to be able to support them”he added. “We must launch a European Egalim, because today we have large distribution groups which do not play the game and which use Europe to circumvent French law”, announced the head of state.