French farmers attack foreign trucks, destroy cargoes, report says

 

French farmers attack foreign trucks, destroy cargoes, report says

 

Belgian cauliflower, Polish chicken and Spanish wine dumped on road in southern France.

 

JANUARY 25, 2024 1:15 PM CET

BY GIORGIO LEALI

https://www.politico.eu/article/france-farmers-attack-foreign-truck-destroy-cargo/

 

PARIS — French farmers have attacked foreign trucks transporting imported produce in the southern Drôme department and destroyed their cargoes, local media reported on Thursday, as countrywide protests escalated.

 

Farmers held up at least a dozen trucks and dumped shipments of Belgian cauliflower, Polish chicken and Spanish wine on a route nationale at Malataverne, France Bleu radio reported, quoting one of the farmers.

 

A photo from the scene showed the smoldering remains of food shipments that appeared to have been burned, strewn across a highway. Traffic edged past on the one lane still open.

 

The outburst of hostility against imports from other EU countries is a reminder of protests in the 1990s, when French farmers seized and destroyed shipments of Spanish strawberries. It also follows a wave of protests across Eastern Europe over cut-price competition from Ukraine on grain and other produce markets.

 

Contacted by POLITICO, the local branch of France's main farm union FNSEA declined to comment on the France Bleu report.

 

French farmers are stepping up protests against taxes on fuel, the EU's push to make farming greener and what they deem excessive regulation. They add that they believe their livelihoods to be threatened by free trade deals.

 

The European Union is in talks with the Latin American Mercosur bloc on a deal that French farmers — and President Emmanuel Macron — strongly oppose. The EU is also considering extending free trade privileges to Ukraine, although countries like Poland are pressing for safeguards on food imports to shield their own farmers.

 

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal huddled with key ministers on Thursday to seek ways to calm the protests. The FNSEA farm union, meanwhile, published a list of demands calling for respect of the profession, fair compensation and acceptable working conditions.

 

In particular, French farmers want to be exempted from proposed EU rules reducing the use of pesticides, or requiring farmers to set aside part of their arable land to foster biodiversity.