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Farmers blocking a roundabout in Paris

Photo: Thibault Camus/dpa

France will impose fines on food companies that do not pay fair prices to French farmers - up to two percent of revenue. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire promised this on Friday in view of nationwide farmers' protests.

Manufacturers and retailers have ignored regulations in force in France since 2018 that are intended to ensure farmers a fair income, said Le Maire. Although they outwardly sided with the farmers, they then circumvented the law by moving purchasing centers abroad or declaring foreign goods as French.

However, Le Maire had previously put pressure on food giants such as Carrefour and Danone for months to lower their prices after a period of high inflation, incurring the wrath of farmers. Now he promised to be “relentless” towards food giants and supermarkets to ensure adequate financial compensation for agricultural producers.

Meanwhile, the blockades in France are becoming ever greater. Farmers extended their blockades to the greater Paris area on Friday. Motorways leading to the capital were blocked at toll booths, as the agricultural union FDSEA announced.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal wanted to make the first concrete promises to the farmers who have been protesting for days in the afternoon. Attal was expected in a small town in southern France, accompanied by Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau and Environment Minister Christophe Béchu.

In the south of the country alone, 400 kilometers of highway were closed. In the evening, the agricultural associations wanted to react to the Prime Minister's announcements and decide whether to continue the protests. Extraordinary actions are also being prepared: In La Roche-sur-Yon, farmers announced that they would climb naked onto stacked bales of straw in a roundabout in protest, as the broadcaster BFMTV reported.

Meanwhile, a traffic jam caused by farmers' protests in the city of Reims caused great distress to a young couple on the way to the delivery room. Out of necessity, the woman gave birth to the child in the car, supported by two municipal police officers and a firefighter, as the newspaper "L'Est Républicain" reported, citing the city.

dab/AFP/Reuters