Will he beat his own longevity record on site? For the third time since the start of his five-year term - and the fourth consecutive year - Emmanuel Macron is going to the International Agricultural Show (SIA) this winter. According to the Elysee Palace, which confirmed his arrival, the president is expected there on Saturday, February 22, the day of the opening of this traditional high mass. " I don't know what time he will arrive, or what time he will leave." All I can tell you is that we blocked the whole day , "jokes an adviser, who knows the propensity of the Head of State to prolong the discussions. It must be said that Emmanuel Macron did not get his teams used to it: with more than 14 hours on the clock in 2019, he broke the attendance record for a president. Which was already not very old: it dated from 2018 and had been established by a certain ... Emmanuel Macron, who had then stayed 12 hours.
Violently whistled and jostled by breeders and grain farmers in 2018, the President of the Republic had been significantly less heckled in 2019. " The Head of State takes particular care of farmers, " said one of his relatives, recalling that 'he went to the Cournon Livestock Show (Puy-de-Dôme) this year. Above all, he received Tuesday, at the Élysée Palace, all the representatives of agricultural unions for bilateral preparatory talks. Result: the 2020 vintage should be much quieter than previous editions. For the first time in a long time, the Agricultural Show will indeed open up outside any major crisis for the French industries (except perhaps beef).
The farmers did not all digest the municipal desires of Didier Guillaume
Since the Food Law of 2018, the prices paid to dairy producers have gone up again. In the pig sector, breeders are benefiting from the effects of swine fever in China, which has boosted demand while the Middle Kingdom slaughtered hundreds of millions of pigs. On the other hand, there will be no shortage of societal issues for the executive: pensions, non-treatment areas on which the FNSEA calls for a moratorium, but also free trade agreements and intrusions on farms ... The list is long and the questions will not fail.
Especially for the Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume, whose desire to conquer Biarritz (Pyrenees-Atlantiques) during the next municipal elections, may have weakened ties with the countryside. Even if he promised to be present every day in the aisles of the Porte de Versailles, the former socialist senator knows that his biarrote temptation could be reminded of him, at a time when farmers are demanding more than ever to be defended against attacks on farms, and ambient agribashing .
The question of pensions is invited to the Salon
His catch-up in extremis by Emmanuel Macron, last week, avoided a departure from the government and a rather unwelcome change of minister on the eve of the biggest agricultural event of the year. " It would have been a mess, " we recognize elsewhere in the entourage of Emmanuel Macron. " The president has the feeling of having a good minister in the person of Didier Guillaume, " confided an Elysian adviser a few days ago. " When we look at the general picture of the country, we can only see that it holds the farmers rather well ", we abounded from the same source.
It must be said that, on the eve of the arrival of the bill on pension reform in public session (scheduled for February 17), the subject of pensions will be at the center of the table at the Salon. " Farmers are among the first beneficiaries of the reform, and they have understood it, " we believe in the Élysée Palace. However, weary of being presented as the big winners of the reform (the establishment of a floor retirement of 1000 euros will allow them to receive a pension well beyond their current levels), the agricultural world intends to obtain more . Emboldened by the concessions made to other professions, they asked for the extension of the measure to producers who had already retired. A subject on which they have received for the time being has no luck during the discussion in committee.
Free trade agreements (CETA, Mercosur ...) remain highly contested
Second major subject: non-treatment zones (ZNT). Since January, these ZNTs have imposed a requirement not to treat crops with pesticides within 3.5 or 10 meters (depending on the crop) of inhabited areas. Sometimes even 20 meters for the most dangerous products. The decision caused uproar among unions. Forced by the Council of State to put in place a system for protecting residents, the government however has little room for maneuver on the subject.
While agricultural incomes remain low, farmers are finally waiting to be more defended against competition from foreign countries. The grievances on this point are all the stronger since mid-January, the president underlined " the French food exception " during the presentation of the prizes of excellence of the general agricultural competition. These words have been noticed, notably at the FNSEA and among Young Farmers (JA). Since the summer, the majority agricultural unions have been standing up against the various free trade agreements, such as CETA or Mercosur. Even if the latter has been suspended by the executive, campaigns are brandishing the risk that these treaties pose for the competitiveness of their operations.