Angry farmers were back in Paris on their tractors in a new protest Friday demanding more government support and simpler regulations, on the eve of a major agricultural fair in the French capital.
Dozens of tractors drove peacefully into a neighbourhood in western Paris carrying flags from Rural Coordination, the farmers' union that staged the protest. The protesters then posed with their tractors on a bridge over the Seine River with the Eiffel Tower in the background, before heading towards the Vauban plaza in central Paris.
The latest protest comes three weeks after farmers lifted roadblocks around Paris and elsewhere in the country after the government offered over €400 million ($433 million) to address their grievances over low earnings, heavy regulation and what they describe as unfair competition from abroad.
"Save our agriculture," Rural Coordination said on X, formerly Twitter. One tractor was carrying a poster reading: "Death is in the field".
The convoy temporarily slowed traffic on the A4 highway, east of the capital, and on the Paris ring-road earlier on Friday morning.
French farmers' actions are part of a broader protest movement in Europe against EU agriculture policies, bureaucracy and overall business conditions.
Read moreWhy French farmers are up in arms: fuel hikes, green regulation, EU directives
Farmers complain that the 27-nation bloc’s environmental policies, such as the Green Deal, which calls for limits on the use of chemicals and on greenhouse gas emissions, limit their business and make their products more expensive than non-EU imports.
Other protests are being staged across France as farmers seek to put pressure on the government to implement its promises.
Macron cancels debate with farmers
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday cancelled a “big debate” on the first day of the Paris Agricultural Fair with farmers, supermarket CEOs and members of environmental groups.
The Paris Agricultural Fair, which opens Saturday, is one of the world’s largest farm fairs, drawing crowds every year.
The cancellation followed a controversy over a debate invitation extended to the radical ecology group Soulevements de la Terre ("Uprisings of the Earth"), which French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin recently tried to ban after calling them "eco-terrorists".
After protests from farming unions, opposition politicians and even from within the government, the Soulevements group was uninvited, with Macron's office saying there had been "an error".
But the damage was done, with the head of France’s main farmers’ union, the FNSEA, calling Macron’s initiative "cynical" and saying he would not be part of "something that doesn't allow dialogue in good conditions".
Faced with the boycott call, Macron cancelled the event altogether.
"The farmers’ unions... wanted an open 'debate'. They are now calling for it to be cancelled. Duly noted," wrote Macron on X.
Macron said he would meet instead with farmers' unions before opening the fair Saturday.
The FNSEA acknowledged that this year's fair – a key annual event for farmers, the public and politicians – would be "eminently political" but said it would hopefully also be a "time of celebration".
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
