Emmanuel Macron ended, on Saturday February 24 in the evening, a 13-hour visit to an Agricultural Show marked by boos and clashes of rare intensity, while the executive had been seeking for a month to appease the angry movement of farmers before their big annual meeting.
“Who would have said this morning that 12 hours later we would find ourselves here continuing to work, moving forward? » launches Emmanuel Macron before 8 p.m., satisfied to have covered the event despite a chaotic start, and tackling: “It’s ridiculous for farmers to have committed violence at a show which is theirs. »
Before the official opening, hundreds of people led by farmers from the FNSEA, Young Farmers and Rural Coordination forced the entrance to the Parisian exhibition center at the Porte de Versailles. They burst into the main hall, triggering clashes with the police. At the same time, around 8 a.m., Emmanuel Macron was speaking on the 1st floor with certain agricultural union officials. After a press briefing during which the Head of State called on the demonstrators to calm down, Mr. Macron improvised a debate lasting almost two hours with representatives of farmers – the majority of whom were executives of representative organizations.
During this debate, which was sometimes tense, Mr. Macron was notably questioned pell-mell on the consequences of the war in Ukraine, administrative simplification, ecology experienced as "punitive" by certain farmers or even farmers' remuneration. “Shut up France, it remains strong, it produces (…), it’s wrong to say that it is falling apart,” he asserted, urging “not to paint a catastrophist portrait of our agriculture.”
A summit at the Elysée in March
The President of the Republic notably announced that the agricultural orientation bill, postponed several times, will be presented to the Council of Ministers on March 20. He also announced his intention to put in place a floor price “sector by sector”. “There will be a minimum price, a floor price, below which the processor cannot buy and the distributor cannot sell,” he promised. Mr. Macron also mentioned the creation of an “emergency cash flow plan” this week to relieve farmers and a meeting on the subject at the Elysée in three weeks.
The image will remain of police officers from a Republican security company and mobile gendarmes wearing helmets and shields in hand trying to contain angry farmers who were insulting the head of state. For several hours, intermittently, there were farmers violently pushing the police who themselves were vigorously pushing them back. When Emmanuel Macron comes down, more than four hours late, to inaugurate the salon and begin the visit, the names of birds fly ("fuck", "liar"), the cries ("Get the hell away!") and the calls upon resignation. Laurent Nuñez, the Paris police chief, estimated the number of the most vindictive demonstrators in the morning between “300 and 400”. He reported six arrests of demonstrators as well as eight injuries among the police.
The president of the National Federation of Farmers' Unions (FNSEA), Arnaud Rousseau, estimated in the evening, on LCI, that he had heard during the day a "certain number of advances which we are delighted with", in particular the prospect of a “cash flow plan” developed from Monday for farmers in difficulty or even the desire to recognize in the law that agriculture is of “major general interest”. “We probably had to go through this moment of anger,” he said.
Calm finally returned in the afternoon with the closing of the hall where Emmanuel Macron continued his visit, the contrast being striking between the sparse aisles around him and those crowded in the other pavilions.
The chaos in any case delayed the opening of the show to visitors, and greatly complicated access to the most popular hall, that of the animals, the scene of scuffles with the police and boos. The first day of this sixtieth Agricultural Show was nevertheless marked by a large number of visitors, with visitors crowding into the aisles not closed to the public.
Critics of the National Rally
“Putting the word out on the concept of floor prices is already a small revolution,” greeted Laurence Marandola, spokesperson for the Confédération paysanne, a union opposed to intensive agriculture and which is making this demand. This minimum price for milk or beef would go further than the current Egalim laws supposed to guarantee farmers remuneration given in contracts with manufacturers and supermarkets. The government wants a new Egalim law by the summer.
The FNSEA remains skeptical: “From one region to another we do not have the same charges (…) the minimum price we do not want because otherwise it would block the price downwards and ultimately bring us back towards an agricultural minimum wage,” one of the union’s vice-presidents, Luc Smessaert, declared to TF1. As for the major general interest of agriculture, a source within the executive indicates that this “carries legal consequences”. This was a demand from the FNSEA and could, for example, facilitate the construction of projects dedicated to agricultural irrigation despite the presence of protected species.
The president also laid the groundwork for a remote debate with the National Rally, before the European elections in June where the party is announced as the favorite in the polls. On the eve of the visit of the president of the National Rally Jordan Bardella, he denounced a “project of degrowth and stupidity” which would consist of “leaving Europe”.
“You told people who came with a political project, it was to serve the RN. Who are you talking about? Who are these people, Rural Coordination? », asked a journalist at the start of the evening. “Of course, there are some in this union, there are also some in others, but it is the main one, who had very clearly assumed this and who is known for it – there are elected officials who are committed on lists,” replied Mr. Macron before considering that “despite the discussions, despite the exchanges, in fact says: “We are going there [carrying out actions]! » We have the right not to be fooled. »
The Head of State then continued his criticism of the National Rally, declaring in particular: “I want a project that explains to people that we are going to close the borders and that others will continue to open them for us, but it does not exist. (…) We cannot tell jokes to farmers, we have to stop. »
Mr. Macron finally detailed again the measures he wants to put in place to respond to the anger of farmers (in particular the continued application of the EGalim law by installing price indicators in all sectors, which This is not the case today, as well as the creation of European regulations on purchasing centers to combat the circumvention of commercial negotiations in France). The exchange with the press ended with an invitation to the press to go for a drink. “Okay, let’s go have a drink at the brewers, come on! », Launched Emmanuel Macron. The presidential motorcade left the Porte de Versailles an hour later.
