The government on Saturday unveiled “additional” measures to benefit farmers in the hope of finally ending the crisis that caused exceptional blockades at the start of the year and continues to simmer among farmers.
These measures include the promised presentation “in early May” of the final version of the new Ecophyto pesticide reduction plan, delayed after the agricultural crisis; new cash flow support for farms; accelerating 100 water storage or irrigation projects; and an aid plan for three departments affected by weather crises (Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude, Hérault).
The government also confirms that the agricultural pension reform, the technical implementation of which has been discussed, will apply in 2026.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is expected in the English Channel in Piraeus on Saturday, where he will visit the “Smurf Fair” and then the garden.
“Global Response”
These measures, which complement the 62 commitments already presented by the Prime Minister, aim to end this winter’s historic agricultural crisis, which continued after mobilizations organized across France in January-February until the meeting of the Agricultural Show, where the head of state was widely booed and where clashes between security and farmers.
“They really make it possible to arrive at a global response to the concerns expressed by farmers and enter a phase that is no longer a mobilization phase,” the government source emphasizes.
Although a potential meeting between agricultural unions and Emmanuel Macron “will depend a lot on the reaction of the different unions to this new package”, we add. Some agricultural unions are talking about a possible meeting with the president on May 2, which the Elysée has not confirmed at this stage.
The first meeting planned for March with Emmanuel Macron has been postponed. The Élysée announced that the president would accept the union “when all the work done by the government allows the president to complete the sequence”.
Gabriel Attal received on several occasions the agricultural unions, which on March 19 presented him with five “blocks” of priorities, which related to breeding, water storage and pesticides, “competitiveness”, the treasury and exits to agriculture.