Protesting French farmers are demanding changes to European Union biodiversity laws that they say give their competitors an unfair advantage. The pressurised government has agreed to push for a policy change in Brussels.
With tractors and hay bales, farmers have been blocking highways across the country for more than a week and launch a “siege” of Paris.
Industry groups argue that the government’s pledges on Friday to cut state subsidies for farm diesel, cut red tape and ease environmental rules have not been effective enough.
Farmers are angered by an EU law on nature restoration that requires 4 per cent of farmland to remain unused, reducing the production capacity of the agricultural sector.
The law, which came into force last year, aims to restore and conserve degraded habitats in the EU. According to the document, member states must enforce environmental measures on a fifth of their land and sea by 2030.
The environmental laws are part of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Arnaud Rousseau, head of France’s FNSEA union, declared:
Our target is not to annoy French people or to make their lives difficult, but to put pressure on the government.
Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau promised Monday that President Emmanuel Macron would back pro-agriculture policies at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels later this week. Fesneau will also visit the Belgian capital as part of efforts to soften a number of EU rules, including those on fallow land.
Whereas farmers in Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Belgium have also taken to the streets, farmers in France are complaining that they are being penalised more severely due to tougher pesticide restrictions than in neighbouring countries.
A recent study found that France lost 20 per cent of its farms between 2010 and 2020. Rousseau promised that nationwide strikes would continue “with the aim of securing emergency measures about the core of our business.”
