“Each year, it is the hustle and bustle. It's tradition, almost folklore, ”said Marine Le Pen in the old fashioned way at the Agricultural Show. As she walks this Tuesday in her alleys, hurry on her journalists and curious steps. “I have been coming here for thirty years. I don't want to come back to this show in ten years like in a museum, to see how it was before ... This place must remain the showcase of an expanding agriculture, which cannot be reduced to frenzy ” , repeat as every year, like a mantra, the president of the National Rally.
Following him, elected officials and advisers, including Jean-Lin Lacapelle, Hervé Juvin and André Rougé, amused themselves by taking part, once again, in this compulsory stage which will last several hours. "This similarity from year to year is both very reassuring and very disturbing," said RN Virginie Joron, MEP. Because the plight of farmers is always the same. ” Each sector has its own concerns. When fishermen worry about the consequences of Brexit on their areas of activity, wine exporters demand a "compensation fund" to mitigate American tax increases. Not to mention the fears of major budget cuts to the common agricultural policy (CAP). “Emmanuel Macron has a heavy responsibility in the absence of defense of agriculture. It cannot prevent a drop in the CAP or prevent unfair competition. It would do well to delay his entry into the campaign, ” pings his first opponent.
"Sustaining French agricultural engineering"
It is however on a whole other subject that the presidential candidate, now declared, has chosen, here, to stop at length: the epidemic of Coronavirus. “I am extremely concerned. We have to control our borders, but we don't. I don't think the government realizes that this epidemic can turn into a pandemic, "she alarmed, recalling that if there is today a risk of a human pandemic, animal pandemics, such as swine fever or bird flu should not be forgotten. “Everyone comes back to mastering borders. We are told that we are the smartest in the world, surrounded by morons ... Or not. "
It is on his own difficulties that Louis, a 56-year-old Herens cow breeder, prefers to challenge the self-proclaimed ambassador of rural life: “Agriculture is being killed. We import meat from Brazil at low prices that does not meet the same standards as us. It is difficult to push a young person into agriculture today, we wonder if it is the best solution for him… ” Toising the horns which adorn the 820 kg of muscles of a bovine from Haute-Savoie, Marine Le Pen shifts: “Are we going to be able to transmit this to our children and grandchildren? This is the real question! You have been told for twenty years that France can do nothing, that this is played out in the Commission, in the European Union. However, it is only a question of political will. The first thing is to make economic patriotism. ”
The young vice-president of the party, Jordan Bardella, agrees and develops, a few steps further, the proposals of the movement: "Perpetuate the French agricultural genius" , in particular by the establishment of an "agricultural exception" matched with the various treaties of free exchange. Before stopping at the stands devoted to overseas products, which Marine Le Pen is particularly fond of, Loup Mautin takes a cold look at the stalls. “This show is a deceptive showcase. It hides the real misery of the rural world, pings the head of Terres de France, the party forum devoted to agricultural issues. We believe that we are still the breadbasket of Europe. While we are no longer competitive, neither in Europe nor outside. ” There remains folklore.