From the opening of this national congress of the National Federation of Hunters (FNC), President Willy Schraen made things clear: "two of the main candidates have not been invited. Without prolonging the suspense, you will have guessed that it is Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot".

The ecologist and the leader of La France Insoumise have indeed both defended the ban on hunting on weekends and during school holidays, an opposition expressed in particular in February after the death of a hiker during a wild boar beat in Cantal.

While he recognizes everyone's "right to be critical of hunting", Mr. Schraen "refuses that we damage hunting and its millions of practitioners under false pretexts, whether they are electoralist or even simply demagogic, by carefully omitting to meet the main interested parties before asking for an end to the hunt in the media".

The president of the FNC was particularly critical of Yannick Jadot and environmentalists, "our main opponent".

A version of ecology denounced as "punitive", with hunters who "too often bear the brunt of this green dictatorship and its legal and media ramifications, which confuses action and prohibition, activism and truth".

Some came in person, Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron were represented.

The latter, candidate for his succession, allowed "more regular and more constructive exchanges than with his predecessors", did not fail to underline Willy Schraen, while opponents of hunting have often accused the head of the State of proximity to the "hunting lobby".

LR presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse speaks on March 22, 2022 before the congress of the National Federation of Hunters STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN POOL / AFP

A great ministry

While Fabien Roussel and Emmanuel Macron's representative were still expected in the afternoon, the morning saw the first candidates march past, all of whom came to tell the hunters the importance of their role in preserving rural life and the biodiversity.

Valérie Pécresse and Eric Zemmour have thus seen their proposal for a large ministry of rurality, bringing together agriculture and hunting in particular, warmly welcomed.

This idea directly echoes a claim of the FNC.

"We must put ecology back into a whole that is no longer an isolated ministry which draws, if I may say so, on all traditional activities: agriculture, fishing, hunting, etc.," argued Eric Zemmour.

Candidate LR and Mr. Zemmour also agreed on their desire to strictly enforce the offense of obstructing hunting.

The candidate Reconquest!

Eric Zemmour speaks on March 22, 2022 before the congress of the National Federation of Hunters STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN POOL / AFP

The representative of the National Rally candidate, Paul-Henry Hansen-Catta, was more "reserved" about such a reconfiguration, arguing that farmers were attached to a ministry dedicated to them.

Another point particularly scrutinized by the hunters, who reserved their applause for the most concrete proposals: the question of the payment of the damage caused by the game, currently entirely the responsibility of the hunters.

For the RN, these charges "cannot be borne solely by hunters".

Eric Zemmour wants to "put a ceiling" on these allowances.

Valérie Pécresse aroused enthusiasm by reiterating her proposal that the State would bear 50% of the cost.

The president of the FNC Willy Schraen threatened, "if no solution is found before the end of the year", to stop paying "for lack of financial means".

Presidential candidate Jean Lassalle speaks on March 22, 2022 in Paris before the national congress of the National Federation of Hunters STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN POOL / AFP

Jean Lassalle, warmly welcomed by a room receptive to his love of the land, for his part insisted on his opposition to the introduction of predatory species (bear, lynx, wolf) in order to protect pastoralism and transhumance.

And if he admitted to being "less enthusiastic about traditional hunts", the one who called himself "president of the real hunters" was nevertheless very applauded.

© 2022 AFP