Agricultural anger: the government greatly simplifies the recruitment of non-European seasonal workers

Something promised, something due. “The government is meeting its commitments,” said Marc Fesneau this morning on to compensate for the lack of agricultural labor. From now on, four professional families are considered as such throughout the metropolitan territory: employed farmers, employed breeders, employed market gardeners and horticulturists, employed wine growers and arboriculturists. The recruitment of seasonal workers is therefore made easier.

This recognition of a profession in shortage is a boost for employers in these agricultural branches. It allows “the issuance, without opposition of the employment situation, of work authorizations to foreigners who are not nationals of a Member State of the European Union, of another State party to the European Economic Area or of the Swiss Confederation,” explains the decree. Clearly, companies in the agricultural sector will be able to recruit workers from outside the European Union as they wish. However, workers must always hold a valid visa.

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Recognition of professions in tension was previously done region by region, taking into account the particularity and needs of each territory. A mode of operation that can create unequal situations. Faced with the anger of farmers, the executive was forced to let go by simplifying the normative mille-feuille. This measure was mentioned at the end of February by Gabriel Attal. Faced with recruitment tensions, the Prime Minister announced that a decree recognizing agricultural production as a “sector in tension” would be published during the Agricultural Show, in order to “greatly facilitate the allocation of visas”.