PARIS: Around 350 tractors rolled into Paris on Tuesday, driving down the Champs-Elysees avenue and setting up camp near the parliament building, as farmers protested a litany of woes including a trade deal the EU has struck with four South American countries.
The protests reflect a deep sense of malaise afflicting France’s agricultural sector, with the planned signing of an accord between the EU and the Mercosur bloc seen as the last straw.
French farmers have complained of climate and economic uncertainties and have since December staged protests and set up roadblocks over the government’s handling of a lumpy skin disease outbreak.
BACKGROUND
The protests reflect a deep sense of malaise afflicting France’s agricultural sector, with the planned signing of an accord between the EU and the Mercosur bloc seen as the last straw.
“We’re at the end of our tether,” said one of the activists, Guillaume Moret, 56.
“We haven’t made any money from our farms for three years. Politicians are incapable of giving us any direction,” said the head of the FNSEA union for the region of Ile-de-France around Paris.
The FNSEA, France’s leading agricultural union, and another union, Jeunes Agriculteurs, are demanding “concrete and immediate action” from the government.
Arriving from towns around Paris but also from the Hauts-de-France region of northern France, the protesters parked their tractors not far from parliament’s lower house, the National Assembly, in central Paris.
“The peasant revolt continues,” read a banner unfurled in front of the legislature.
In an apparent attempt to pacify the protesters, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has allowed the activists to set up camp near the National Assembly building, a source close to the matter said.
Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told broadcaster TF1 that “dialogue” with farmers continued.
The first convoy of about fifteen tractors rolled into the French capital shortly before 6:00 am (0500 GMT). Joined by dozens of others, they drove down the Champs-Elysees honking their horns.
“We won’t leave without measures that allow us to catch our breath a little,” said another protester, Guillaume Moret.
Some, equipped with trailers, had brought mattresses and duvets.
Several days before the planned signing of the EU-Mercosur agreement in Paraguay, the FNSEA union reiterated its opposition to the deal and also listed several national “priorities” to be defended on Tuesday.
The union is calling on the government to address a number of issues including wolf predation and the use of fertilizers.
French police said some 400 protesters had gathered near the building housing the National Assembly.
Most of the European Union’s 27 nations back the Mercosur trade deal, which supporters argue is crucial to boost exports, help the continent’s ailing economy and foster diplomatic ties at a time of global uncertainty.
The deal, more than 25 years in the making, would create one of the world’s largest free-trade areas, boosting commerce between the EU
and the Mercosur bloc comprising Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.
It would see the European Union export machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals with lowered tariffs applied.
But farmers in France and several other countries fear being undercut by an influx of cheap beef and other agricultural products from South America.
Thousands of farmers in France and Ireland staged protests over the weekend.
In France, politicians across the divide have also been up in arms against the deal, which they view as an assault on the country’s influential farming sector.
Last week, protesters from Coordination Rurale, the second largest union, also brought their tractors into Paris.
