France Mulls Cooling Down Farmers By Reducing Bureaucracy, Money Supply Increase

The head of the young farmers' union in France has vowed to extend their demonstrations "as far as the capital [Paris] is concerned," in the first crisis for the newly-appointed PM Gabriel Attal.

The French government plans to introduce monetary compensation for farmers, reduce bureaucracy, and continue the giving out subsidies to farmers.

The moves are aimed at preventing a possible blockade of the capital over dwindling incomes and draconian policies by the European Union.

The farmers' protest spreading across Europe has a common cause in the incompetence of European Union (EU) politicians in Brussels, who made the rash decision to allow cheap Ukrainian agricultural products that do not meet the bloc' standards to flood member states' markets tax-free as a 'goodwill' gesture to help Ukraine.

The European Commission's haste to start formal accession talks with Ukraine is causing further issues. Joachim Rukwied, president of the German Farmers' Association (DBV), contends that the decision could spell the end of family farming in Europe, pointing to potential challenges for European farmers in the future.

The farmers complain about the impact of energy and fuel prices, when energy costs represent a much more significant share of production costs in the agricultural sector. While they grapple with these challenges, the two countries at the centre of the protests are among Ukraine's top military aid donors. Germany has sent €5.4 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine, and France is estimated to have sent €3.2 billion to the Kiev regime.

Farmers’ protests that started in southern France have spread across the country. The unrest includes defacing government offices, rage against the authorities and the blocking of several major highways. As a result, some unions have told their members to avoid key routes into Paris on Friday.

“As far as the capital is concerned, we’re growing in power and the movement is spreading to the whole of France… The capital should be one of the last options, but we can imagine all sorts of things… The ball is in the government’s court to avoid paralyzing a country that has other problems,” Arnaud Gaillot, head of the young farmers’ union Jeunes Agriculteurs, told BFM TV.

The French farmers’ grievances emanate from a web of contradictory regulations and funding cuts.

Last Wednesday, the National Federation of Agricultural Holders' Unions (FNSEA) specified their demands to the government, calling for sustained diesel tax incentives for agricultural machines, promptly disbursing EU's subsidies to farmers, ensuring insurance coverage for health and climate-related losses, aid to assist winemakers and organic farmers, and strengthening the enforcement of laws protecting farmgate prices.

“There’s a real risk of a general flare-up… [Gabriel] Attal will have to show he’s up to the mission he’s been assigned to by the president. It’s Attal’s credibility that is at stake,” says a Sciences Po political scientist Hortense de Padirac.

A meeting on Monday between Attal, Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau and the head of the French farmers' union Arnaud Rousseau yielded no tangible results. Rousseau told the press there would be “no lifting of actions as long as there are no concrete decisions.”

The French government told a press conference on Wednesday that it has “heard their call” and will make announcements in the coming days.

It is anticipated that on Friday the Prime Minister will unveil measures like alleviating the effects of reduced subsidies on non-road diesel and could commit to speeding up payments to farmers affected by floods or livestock disease.

While President Emmanuel Macron's government hopes to mollify the aggrieved farmers with those measures, they will not give up until their concrete demands are addressed.

“Incomprehensible decisions are raining down on our sector…We need deep structural change,” the Federation of Agricultural Holders' Unions stated.