Turn on the gas, strike a match, make everything explode: Emmanuel Macron followed the arsonist’s method to the letter to ignite the agricultural world this Friday. Affable, relaxed, the president, from Belém, in Brazil, said to himself “rather positive” on the Mercosur treaty almost a year to the day after having described it as“unacceptable”. The FNSEA fumes: “total denial”, “breakup”, “affront”. The FDSEA is organizing a symbolic mobilization in Bellême… in Orne, against “betrayal” of the president, and the Rural Coordination speaks of “historical misinterpretation”. Policies take action: “This agreement finalized in opacity and directly attacking the interests of French agriculture must be rejected”thunders Marine Le Pen on X; “After industry, it is now our agriculture that the president agrees to sell off,” proclaims Bruno Retailleau for his part.
The last time Emmanuel Macron played with fire was on October 21, from Slovakia, when he ruled out any suspension of the pension reform, forcing the Prime Minister to correct it the same evening. The repetition of presidential bombshells forces us to question his motivations. Is it out of egotism that he cannot help but intervene loudly in the public debate? It is better to arouse anger than indifference or forgetfulness. Is it out of malice towards a Prime Minister who made him promise not to get involved in anything? Or is it the symptom of this “disconnect” who has been criticized against him since the first day of his mandate? The debate has the merit of being asked, but for Sébastien Lecornu, it will be time to return to it later, the urgency being – once again – to contain the fire.
Mine clearance operation
Matignon’s annoyance is all the more acute as the Prime Minister was precisely trying, behind the scenes, to clear up an agricultural issue that he considered explosive. No doubt he did not imagine – or perhaps he did – Emmanuel Macron lighting the spark. Just a few hours after the positive attitude decreed in Belém, Matignon made it known that the Prime Minister did not wait for the president to look into an agricultural issue raised to the top of the pile of emergencies to be dealt with. On October 29, Sébastien Lecornu and Annie Genevard received the European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen to discuss the future of the CAP: falling budget, targeted subsidies… At the end of the exchange, the Prime Minister was struck by the accumulation of dark clouds over the upcoming deadlines. As soon as the commissioner had left, he gathered his cabinet to ask the diplomats to “put pressure back into the ”pipe” of the committee on the CAP and Mercosur”and to the chief of staff to plan a “agri sequence”. Not next week or the one after that, with elected officials, cameras and bales of straw to take images, no. A quick and informal meeting to assess the seriousness of the concerns.
The next day, October 30, the Prime Minister traveled to the Channel on the subject of access to care. In the afternoon, he met farmers and union representatives during an unscheduled trip, of which no trace appears even today. A meeting of which the Tangwall Campagin was informed by a local source, after it took place. Informed of these exchanges, three days later, the Prime Minister sent a letter to the President of the European Commission, which the Tangwall Campagin was able to consult. The concluding sentence, at the end of a reasoned alert on the inertia of the European Union in agricultural matters, attests to the executive’s concern about the rise in anger: “Having only taken office a few weeks ago as Prime Minister, I am struck by how concerned our farmers remain today and are waiting for answers. » Letter which has remained unanswered to date and which will undoubtedly receive none, if the president considers that the optimism displayed by Emmanuel Macron in Belém constitutes approval.
For Sébastien Lecornu, the urgency is to contain the fire
Certainly the President of the Republic assures in the same sentence that he “stay vigilant”but the ordering of his words is interpreted – taking into account the context – as an initial at the bottom of the agreement: “I am rather positive, but I remain vigilant. » The farmers would no doubt have wanted him to be vigilant before testing positive. At this stage, no large-scale day of action is on the agenda for the coming weeks, even if the agricultural unions do not rule it out. The Prime Minister’s dedicated advisor monitors the file daily and, in coordination with Annie Genevard’s cabinet, keeps channels open with representative organizations.
The Prime Minister, for his part, will continue in the days and weeks which have just activated his relays in the agricultural world, in particular during the congress of the departments of France next week and that of the mayors of France at the end of November. He intends to maintain dialogue with France on breeding and plowing to educate on the gains negotiated over the past year with the European Commission. Crucial objective: to demonstrate that the safeguard clauses will effectively protect the sectors, and above all that their mechanism is sufficiently reactive to stop imports of beef or poultry in the event of a significant increase in import thresholds, or an unfair drop in prices. On this subject as on that of the mirror clause – which would impose on South American breeders the same level of constraints as that applied to the French – Paris has until December 20 to obtain guarantees from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Date on which Ursula von der Leyen plans to return to Brazil to conclude and celebrate the free trade agreement. It will then be too late to save French agricultural sovereignty.
