After the chaotic visit of President Emmanel Macron at the Agriculture Show in Paris on Saturday, far-right National Rally leader Jordan Bardella was keen to show his support for farmers with a two-day visit starting Sunday.
While French presidents have often been jeered at the annual fair, Saturday's scenes were a first.
It was a long day for Emmanuel Macron who was heckled by angry farmers who scuffled with police upon his arrival at 8am.
Police arrested six people and eight officers were hurt in the violence.
Farmers' leaders had already warned Macron that his visit to the Salon de l'Agriculture – a fixture of the presidential calendar – would not go smoothly if the government had not delivered on their promises to meet their demands.
Macron held a two-hour meeting with the leaders of the three main farmers unions, the FNSEA, Jeunes Agriculteurs and Coordination Rurale, over their concerns over prices, red tape and state aid.
It was a step down from the major national debate he had originally planned before scrapping it after a row over who could be invited.
Government proposals
"I always prefer dialogue to confrontation," Macron said. "I am telling you that work is being done on the ground, we are in the process of simplifying things."
Macron stressed that his government had made 62 commitments to meet farmers demands, including promises of minimum prices for some agricultural commodities.
The protesting farmers were not all impressed.
"Did you hear him? He doesn't let us speak, he talks down to us. We want him to go," farmer Eric Labarre, an FNSEA member, told French news agency AFP.
FNSEA leader Arnaud Rousseau was more conciliatory. "There are a certain number of advances that we are happy about," he told LCI television.
Macron said he would meet again with farmers in three weeks, after the fair shuts on 3 March.
'Distress' of the agricultural industry
On Sunday, it was Jordan Bardella's turn to woo the attendees at the fair, escorted by around twenty deputies.
The young head of the far-right National Rally party said he would one-up the President by spending two days at the fair to show his dedication to the ailing industry.
Instead of scuffles, attendees queued up to take selfies with the young politician, who took over from Marine Le Pen in 2022.
"Behind the distress of the agricultural sector, there is the distress of rural France, the distress of working France, which today is asphyxiated by standards, asphyxiated by taxes, and which is no longer able to live with dignity," he told reporters.
Bardella called in particular for "economic patriotism" for agriculture and "the end of inheritance taxes" for farmers.
"Obviously, there is the question of income and work. But our farmers must be competitive. However, by being put in competition with products or sectors that do not respect any of the standards, it is very complicated," he insisted.
European elections on the horizon
He pointed out that farmers protests in recent weeks were not only attended by National Rally supporters and accused Macron of being paranoid over "a form of conspiracy".
Accused by Macron of being the bearer of a "stupid project" which would consist of "leaving Europe", Bardella claims to want to "change the rules of the EU" by "pushing it from within". But "as long as we accept that rules decided in Brussels come to apply on French soil, that poses a problem," he says.
Recent polls suggest that the RN – lead by Bardella –will emerge as the big winner in the 9 June European election with around one-third of the French vote, some 10 points ahead of a coalition led by Macron's Renaissance party.
(with newswires)
