Agriculture: Emmanuel Macron will receive the unions at the Élysée on May 2

Emmanuel Macron will receive agricultural unions and representatives of the sectors on May 2 to “discuss the prospects for French and European agriculture,” the Élysée announced on Monday, which hopes to end the crisis which caused exceptional blockages at the start of the 'year. “This working meeting” at the Élysée follows a series of measures announced by the government on Saturday and which met with a positive response from the majority unions.

The government has announced a package of measures that it hopes will be able to turn the page on the agricultural crisis, which caused exceptional blockages at the start of the year. “We are working on concrete measures for our farmers,” underlined Gabriel Attal during a visit to Pirou, in Manche.

Among these measures are the promised presentation "at the beginning of May" of the final version of the Ecophyto pesticide reduction plan, paused during the agricultural crisis, as well as new cash flow aid for farms, the acceleration of 100 storage projects water or irrigation from this year and an aid plan for three departments hit by weather crises (Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude, Hérault).

After the unprecedented mobilization of farmers and intense negotiations lasting several months, a new “phase” is opening for the “concrete implementation” of each of these measures, welcomed the majority unions, the FNSEA and the Young Farmers on Saturday. But they promise to be “extremely vigilant” to monitor their implementation, and the vote this summer of a new agricultural law.

In committee, the deputies begin this Tuesday the examination of this agricultural orientation bill, revised after the crisis. With subjects such as training, hedges or the revision of the scale of penalties in the event of damage to nature, this text aims to accelerate the arrival of new generations of farmers, relieved of certain environmental constraints. . Environmental NGOs criticize it for perpetuating the current model, to the detriment of ecosystems. The text is expected from May 14 in the hemicycle.