All about the 'Black Monday' promoted by French farmers: why they are protesting and why they are blocking the border with Spain

They say in France that today is going to be a 'black' Monday due to the efforts of the farmers. Black for the citizens of Paris and black for the Spanish transporters who cross the border daily through Irún and La Junquera (Girona). French farmers are up in arms and we already know that here in Spain it will mean (it already means) seeing trucks with their load on the ground.

This Monday, French farmers proposed to lay siege to Paris. It is their latest mobilization against the new environmental, tax and social policies of both the French Government and the European Union.. They also point to unfair competition and at that point they point to Italy and Spain.

In this latter they have the support of the French government itself.. “We will continue to advance to fight against unfair competition. “Our farmers are imposed (phytosanitary) rules that others (countries) are not,” criticized Macron's recently appointed prime minister, Gabriel Attal.

“Our farmers have (phytosanitary) rules imposed that others (countries) do not.”

Last Wednesday, the unions calling for the mobilizations, the National Federation of Agricultural Exploitation Unions (FNSEA) and the Young Farmers, sent the government a document with a hundred demands, the cost of which they estimate at several hundred million euros.

These two organizations were later joined by the Confédération Paysanne, the third agricultural union.. “It is not a basis for negotiation, it is a complete demand in which it is not about us making our purchases,” warned Arnaud Rousseau, president of the FNSEA.

Against free trade agreements

One of their great demands is the “clear rejection” of free trade agreements. “What can be resolved very quickly is for the President of the Republic to announce that he will use his right of veto during the vote on the signing of the Mercosur treaty,” declared Patrick Bénézit, vice president of the FNSEA.

“That Macron announces that he will use his right of veto during the vote on the signing of the Mercosur treaty”

French farmers consider that free trade agreements between the EU and other regions of the world are negative for their interests, as they allow products to enter France at much lower prices. The EU-Mercosur treaty (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) must be ratified by the 27 after the 2019 political pact, which took more than 20 years to reach.

Unfair (European) competition

The French countryside complains about the entry of agricultural products from European countries. They consider that they represent unfair competition due to their low price and because their environmental standards are less demanding than the French ones.

France estimates that they import at least 40% of their fruits and vegetables, especially from Spain and Italy.. The cause would be the productive brake that certain environmental rules adopted in its legislation represent for the French country and he asserted that he will propose to his community partners “more measures” to protect French food sovereignty.

The French far-right has demanded a closure of borders for Spanish or Italian products. The Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, has ruled out this measure because it would be counterproductive for the French agricultural industry itself if neighboring countries do the same.

Salary increase

Agricultural organizations demand immediate responses in terms of remuneration, including emergency aid for the sectors most in crisis: viticulture and organic farming.

Last April, the president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, already requested emergency aid of 50 to 100 million euros for organic producers.. The following month, the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, announced a “crisis package” of 60 million euros, accompanied by measures to stimulate demand.

Distribution of the value of the food chain

Farmers also demand a commitment to “guarantee absolute respect for the Egalim laws” of 2018 and 2021 on the distribution of value between actors in the French food chain, through “reinforced controls throughout the national territory.”

Collect all CAP aid

Furthermore, according to the document sent to the Government, the agricultural unions demand the immediate payment of all aid from the CAP (European Common Agricultural Policy), “whatever the reasons for non-payment”, as well as “the payment as soon as possible of all the health and climate compensations (…) owed by the State” and their disposition.

The price of diesel

The planned increase in taxation on non-road diesel (GNR), the fuel used by tractors, has been another factor that has unleashed the anger of farmers. Farmer organizations want to ensure full compensation for everyone by introducing a tax credit and integrating the amount currently refunded into the price paid.

Reduction of standards

In the longer term, agricultural unions are calling for the launch of a “reduction project”, particularly environmental ones.. With regard to the latter, the FNSEA and Young Farmers call not only for an end to “over-transposition”, that is, the application of European regulations more widely than planned, but also for the removal of existing measures.

“You will never get farmers to like Europe if you make rules that penalize them in relation to other farmers.”

“What we ask is that France reverses all the rules that are not the same as at the European level. You will never get farmers to like Europe if you make rules that penalize them in relation to other farmers,” argued Arnaud Gaillot, president of Young Farmers.

Collapse Paris and the border with Spain

This Monday, a device of 15,000 police and gendarmes has been prepared in Paris to protect access roads. It is about preventing the blockades announced by agricultural organizations (starting at 13 GMT) from leaving the capital incommunicado.

At least eight of the motorways that reach Paris (A1, A4, A5, A6, A10, A13, A15 and A16) could suffer the wrath of farmers and be closed. The goal “is neither violence nor provocation” but to pressure the Executive to improve the living conditions of farmers, said the leader of the FNSEA.

Spanish transporters fear that problems will be repeated at the border through Irún and La Junquera (Girona). Organizations in the sector have called for the establishment of safe transport corridors for Spanish goods. Spanish citrus transporters have denounced the congestion at the La Jonquera border crossing.