The French government given up plans to gradually reduce state subsidies on agricultural diesel, but this is not enough and protests continue, Euractiv informs.
After two weeks of protests in France, farmers blocked a major motorway out of Paris on Friday and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced a series of measures to ease financial and administrative pressure on farmers.
For instance, he pointed out that a plan to phase out state support for diesel would be cancelled, bureaucratic procedures would be simplified, and an appeal would be lodged with the European Union to overturn block-wide rules on fallow land.
We will stop this planned trajectory of increasing tax on non-road diesel fuel, said Attal.
Nevertheless, he also added that France will remain opposed to signing the Mercosur free trade agreement, which farmers believe will flood the country with cheaper Latin American meat and produce.
Some farmers called Attal’s promises a hopeful start, but protests will still continue.
Earlier on Friday, the finance and agriculture ministers held emergency talks with the food industry on fair prices for produce. The talks resulted in Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire saying the government would “redouble its efforts” to enforce a law designed to guarantee fair prices at farmers’ markets.
The protests in France followed similar actions in other European countries, including Germany and Poland, six months before European elections, leaving the measures needed to keep the farming industry on track for improvement and stability.
