Farmers continue to express their anger throughout France on Tuesday, during a mobilization mourning the death of a breeder in Ariège, hit by a car on a dam.
It is “
a tragedy which upsets us all
”, affirmed the President of the Republic on X, asking the government of Gabriel Attal to provide “
concrete solutions to the difficulties
” of the profession.
A cow breeder in her thirties died in the early morning in Pamiers just after being hit by a car on a farmers' roadblock, on a section of the RN20 Toulouse-Andorra, closed to traffic.
Her 40-year-old partner, “
seriously
” injured, and their teenage daughter “
in critical condition
”, are still hospitalized, according to the Foix prosecutor’s office.
The three occupants of the car (a man and two women of Armenian nationality, according to the prefect of Ariège) were placed in police custody as part of an investigation opened for aggravated manslaughter and aggravated injuries, according to the prosecution.
They were subject to an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF), after having had their asylum request rejected, according to a source close to the investigation at AFP.
“
The facts in question do not appear to be intentional
,” underlined the Foix prosecutor's office, pointing out the lack of visibility at the scene.
The Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau is expected on site at the end of the afternoon.
“
In the particular moment that agriculture is going through, this kind of drama is difficult to live with
,” declared the president of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA), Arnaud Rousseau, on RMC.
New blockages
The day after a seemingly unsuccessful meeting with the government, the mobilization continued with several blockages.
In the Somme, according to the prefecture, 55 tractors, 32 light vehicles and around 110 people organized a filter barrier at the Jules Verne toll, on the A29, near Amiens, since 2:30 p.m.
A section of the A16 near Beauvais (Oise) is cut off from traffic by dozens of tractors, according to AFP journalists on site.
“
There are a lot of people who have nothing to lose so the exit will be all the more difficult
,” judged Luc Smessaert, president of the FDSEA in Oise.
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In the rest of the country, the disruptions sometimes began very early in the morning: around 4:00 a.m., around thirty tractors blocked traffic on the A7 in both directions, between Lyon and Valence.
“
We are gone for the day, for the night... as long as concrete measures are not announced
,” Thierry Sénéclauze, a farmer, told AFP, denouncing “
the toxic and Bolshevik standards
”.
In the South-West, the A64 dams near Carbonne (Haute-Garonne) and near the Golfech power station (Tarn-et-Garonne) remained in place and significant disruptions were reported on the A61, A62 and A20.
Two blockages appeared on the A64 at Pau and the A63 near Bayonne but access to Spain from the A64 remained open, according to the Pyrénées-Atlantiques prefecture.
Tractors in Agen
In Agen, dozens of tractors block the A62.
Massed in front of the prefecture, farmers dumped slurry mixed with cow carcasses, straw and tires.
“
We asked that
the Prime Minister make announcements
by this evening
,” declared Karine Duc, co-president of Rural Coordination in Lot-et-Garonne, after being received by the prefect.
“
If they don't want another death on their conscience, they just have to bring forward their announcements, for the respect of this deceased person, of all of us, of the profession
,” she said.
In Dordogne, traffic is disrupted in several places, including access to the A89, according to the prefecture.
If they don't want another death on their conscience, they just have to bring forward their announcements, for the respect of this deceased person, of all of us, of the profession
Karine Duc, co-president of Rural Coordination in Lot-et-Garonne
Demonstrations are expected in Limoges and Poitiers.
After receiving the FNSEA, Mr. Attal must receive the Rural Coordination on Tuesday evening and the Peasant Confederation, the 2nd and 3rd French agricultural unions, on Wednesday morning.
The president of Rural Coordination, Véronique Le Floch, judged it “catastrophic” that the Prime Minister has not yet made any emergency announcement.
The leading French agricultural union, the FNSEA, has won numerous arbitrations with the government in recent years, such as on taxes on water or pesticides, but farmers complain of being overwhelmed by standards and of not earning their income well enough. life.
Among the multiple demands heard: administrative simplifications, no new ban on pesticides, stopping increasing the price of diesel or even full application of the law supposed to force manufacturers and supermarkets to pay better for agricultural products.
The government fears a conflagration.
From the Netherlands to Romania via Poland and Germany, farmers are stepping up actions against tax increases and the European “Green Deal”.
On Tuesday, European ministers from the agricultural sector meet in Brussels.