Farmer protests have spread from Poland and Romania to France and Germany in recent weeks, Bloomberg reported, with grievances ranging from stringent regulations and rising fuel costs to shrinking subsidies and the impact of Ukrainian produce flowing into local markets.
In France, where tractors have obstructed highways, President Emmanuel Macron’s government is trying to defuse the fury and stop demonstrations from escalating into a blockade of Paris. France is taking steps to ensure that food retailers agree to a fair share of revenues to producers in annual negotiations, and is expected to make other pledges to improve farmers’ finances.
Plans are expected to include measures to cut red tape and offset the impact of shrinking subsidies on non-road diesel. The government may also pledge to speed up financial handouts for farmers who have been affected by floods or cattle disease.
Protests that began in the south of France spread through the week, as farmers blocked major roads and snarled traffic around the country with go-slow processions. Some unions have urged their members to cut off the main routes into Paris on Jan. 26.
Many of the farmers’ complaints have focused on what they see as a tangle of ever-shifting regulations that have pushed many of them to the brink of bankruptcy.
On Jan. 24, leading French farmers’ union FNSEA grouped the grievances into a litany of demands ranging from tax credits for agricultural fuel to dispensations from European Union rules on fallow land. “Incomprehensible decisions are raining down on our sector,” the union said. “We need deep structural change.”
Part of the challenge for Macron is the huge public backing for the protests, despite spreading travel chaos. According to an Odoxa-Backbone Consulting survey of 1,005 people for newspaper Le Figaro, 89% of French people support the movement.
The EU began a strategic dialog on Jan. 25 to address growing divisions over agriculture across the bloc. But the effort is a slow-moving process, and it’s unclear how much the EU can do quickly to ease the protests.