Raquel VillaécijaParis Correspondent

Paris Correspondent

Updated Tuesday, January 30, 2024-19:03

The French Prime Minister,

Gabriel Attal

, today sought to calm French farmers, who have been protesting for 12 days to ask the Government to address their claims. They expected concrete announcements from the new chief executive, but these

did not occur

, or were made in a very ethereal way. Attal was giving his general policy speech in the National Assembly, his debut after being appointed to the position three weeks ago. His words did not convince and the producers continue with the mobilizations.

The more than

1,500 farmers and 800 tractors

who, since last Monday, have blocked the main road accesses to Paris are preparing to spend a second night on the asphalt. It is their measure of pressure to make themselves heard and they say that they will be there as long as necessary. The convoy of 200 tractors that left Agen, in the south of the country, is also clear that the objective "is to reach Paris," says Michel, one of the producers who is part of the procession, on the phone.

On Monday, the French Government had announced that today it would detail new measures for producers, which would be added to those that Attal presented on Friday. If the sector expected more specific announcements, the young prime minister

focused more on general concepts

, such as that of the "French agricultural exception", a mechanism to protect the homeland sector, but which he did not detail. He also said that many of the measures expected "take time."

His speech not only focused on the field, it was much broader and lasted more than an hour. He did announce a control plan on the traceability of products coming from abroad "

to guarantee equal competition

", but without going into details, and said that it will protect farmers "from unfair competition" from other countries.

He promised that CAP aid will be paid to producers who have not received it before March 15, said that bureaucratic rules will be simplified and announced that the fines for supermarket chains for failing to comply with the law that prohibits purchasing below the cost price (Egalim Law) will be used to "support farmers".

The ball is now in Brussels' court. The Minister of Agriculture,

Marc Fesneau

, arrives in the Belgian city tomorrow to address the farmers' demands. The president, Emmanuel Macron, who was visiting Sweden yesterday, will meet with the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von del Leyen, within the framework of the European Council.

Specifically, he will ask that the negotiations for the free trade agreement with Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay),

which France opposes,

be definitively put on hold . "We should not put everything on the back of Europe," claimed Macron, who also called for "a French agricultural exception." "Our agriculture is our strength, our pride," he said.

Among the farmers' complaints is this treaty, which facilitates commercial exchanges between Europe and Latin America, but which they consider contrary to their interests, since it

allows the import of products at a lower price

, produced under different conditions and rules. It happens with chicken from Ukraine: Attal has asked that imports of meat coming from this country be regulated, also one of the main cereal producers and which Europe has been supporting with military material since the Russian war began in its territory. .