Arnaud Rousseau was firm this Friday morning on BFMTV/RMC.
“The anger is not behind us.
We said that we were removing the blocking points but that we had to transform this anger into very concrete actions for farmers,” declared the president of the main agricultural union, the FNSEA.
If the measures announced yesterday by Gabriel Attal “are just a flash in the pan”, farmers will not hesitate to “do it again” he assured.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister notably announced the inclusion of the objective of food sovereignty in the law.
A project that he intends to undertake “with farmers on the basis of clear indicators defined with them”.
He also announced support of 150 million euros for breeders, as well as a ban on the importation of fruits and vegetables treated with thiacloprid, a pesticide whose use has been banned in the European Union since 2019. .
The Ecophyto plan, the aim of which is to reduce the use of pesticides, will be “paused”, then detailed the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau.
Regarding all of these concessions, the head of the agricultural union was cautious, saying he was waiting for a translation into “a hard law” before June.
Willingness to be “at the negotiating table”
The Prime Minister also announced a strengthening of the Egalim law, which aims to prevent producers from bearing the brunt of the price war between supermarkets on the one hand, and distributors and suppliers of the agro-industry on the other. go.
“It’s interesting that we are at the negotiating table,” said Arnaud Rousseau.
Read alsoAgricultural crisis: the Écophyto plan “shut down”, a “historic setback” for environmental associations
On the use of pesticides, Arnaud Rousseau explained that “pesticides are not used for pleasure”.
“We hear the societal expectation on pesticides, we must find alternatives,” he maintained, while recalling the importance that rules in this area are also respected by other countries.
“What I don't want is for people to say that it's not possible in France, and for it to be done elsewhere,” explained the head of the FNSEA.