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French farmers drive with their tractors during a nationwide day of protest against their deteriorating economic conditions - Source: Reuters -
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Thousands of farmers staged protests across France and blocked
traffic for about two hours on a section of the Champs Elysees
avenue in Paris to demand the government help them combat a plunge
in food prices.
France's main farmers' union, FNSEA, estimated about 50,000 farmers
with 7,000 tractors turned out around the country.
Depressed prices in the dairy sector have sparked protests across
Europe this year, including a delivery boycott last month.
Farmers say a price squeeze is affecting agriculture as a
whole.
French farmgate prices plunged 15% year-on-year in August,
according to the latest data published by national statistics
office INSEE, with prices of grain, fruit and vegetables pressured
by abundant harvests.
FNSEA is calling for a 1.4 billion Euro ($2.8 billion) aid package
including tax breaks and direct aid to struggling farms.
"What we need is for farms that are suffering to have some
liquidity before the end of the year so that they can prepare for
2010," FNSEA President Jean-Michel Lemetayer told RTL radio.
Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said initial numbers pointed to
a 10% to 20% drop in French farmers' revenues this year, and that
he was working on a plan to help them.
"I will propose a global support plan for agriculture that will
include in particular cuts in taxes and levies on 2009 revenues,"
Le Maire told France Info radio.
President Nicolas Sarkozy backs a farm relief package and told
daily Le Figaro in an interview published on Friday that "strong"
measures would be unveiled by the end of the month.
Symbolic protest on the Champs Elysees
On the Champs Elysees, 40 farmers sent a symbolic message to
Sarkozy by blocking the street outside Fouquet's restaurant where
he famously celebrated his 2007 election victory.
"Sarkozy, is this the price that farmers should pay?" read one of
the banners near the restaurant as the protesters torched tyres and
pallets.
Elsewhere in France, farmers on tractors snarled up motorways by
conducting go-slow or "snail" protests outside the south-western
city of Toulouse and the eastern city of Nancy.
In Poitiers in western France, they dumped 1,000 cubic metres of
soil in front of public buildings and released small farm animals
in the streets.
Friday's protests are seen as FNSEA's attempt to regain credibility
among farmers after it opposed last month's delivery boycott by
dairy producers.
The protests are also tied to developments in the European Union,
which runs farm policy for the 27-member bloc.
Le Maire has won the backing of 20 EU countries for proposals
including an additional 300 million euros in aid for the bloc's
dairy farmers, and is aiming to get concrete action at a formal
council of farm ministers on Monday.
The Swedish EU presidency and the European Commission are sceptical
about the need for major changes, however, pointing to a recovery
in dairy prices since the summer.
