Farmer protests in France: A64 motorway blockaded again as ‘emergency law’ announced

French farmers continue to escalate protests in the south of France with a renewed blockade of the A64 near Toulouse in place in both directions. 

Farmers who had been blockading the motorway for several days lifted their blockade yesterday, leading to hopes that the road would be free from further disruption.

However, a new group of protestors supported by local union branches of the FDSEA, Jeunes Agriculteurs, Coordination rurale, and Confédération Paysanne quickly replaced it.

Protestors from this group are also making their way towards the city’s Métropole Exhibition Centre, and say they aim to cause as much disruption to morning traffic as possible. Several arrests have already been made.

Elsewhere, protestors are blocking roads including the N51, A304, and N12, with a new protest along the A50 in the Var announced just after 08:00. Use our article to find out the situation on roads near you.

In the capital, a delegation of farmers parked outside the Assemblée nationale parliament building are exiting the city following a late-night meeting with Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard. 

This protest saw around 350 tractors from local regions descend on Paris on Tuesday and was led by France’s largest farmer union, the FNSEA.

The union was looking for assurance on certain measures including loans and assistance for farmers in debt. 

Satisfied with the meeting, the FNSEA called on farmers to exit Paris and return home.

Will new emergency law be enough to quell protests?

In a bid to quell protests Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced an ‘emergency farming law’ yesterday that he would look to bring to the Assemblée nationale for debate before summer. 

The law will include changes to water usage policies for farmers – with a pause on all water policy regulations until the bill is debated – changes to rules on how farmers can deal with wolves that attack livestock, and new rules over the ‘means of production’, meaning what resources and methods farmers can use. 

There is the possibility that France will seek derogations for certain EU environmental measures including the use of nitrate-based fertilisers. 

It comes on top of €300 million in aid promised last week, which is separate to the new law.

However, Mr Lecornu cannot do anything about the Mercosur trade deal, which passed last week following a majority backing in the EU despite France voting against it. 

While the FNSEA has called for protests relating to the deal to stop in France – arguing it is pointless as the French government can do nothing about it – local branches of other unions continue to cite the deal as at least a partial cause of their anger. 

In addition the emergency law does not include measures on lumpy skin disease affecting French cattleherds, another reason for anger cited by protestors particularly in the south (although the government is taking separate and more immediate action including a vaccination rollout). 

Unions are not united

The emergency law directly deals with several issues brought forward by the FNSEA, which is using the wider but perhaps temporal anger to gain lasting concessions for farmers. 

The union now seems satisfied and will focus its attention on a major upcoming protest on January 20 in Strasbourg, targeting the EU Parliament. 

Further action elsewhere in France from the union seems limited, at least before this date.

The FNSEA has traditionally been the union to lead (or at least be the first invited to) discussions with the government during periods of protest and anger. 

Other unions can feel sidelined by this, and as has been seen during the recent wave of action, often carry out their own demonstrations without FNSEA backing. 

Following today’s protests in Toulouse, it seems that only the FNSEA will ask its members to refrain from further action in the coming days, while all other groups are taking part in action elsewhere across the country.

This includes the Jeunes Agriculteurs, a youth offshoot branch of the FNSEA, pointing to inner tension between the groups. 

The FNSEA’s Paris demonstrations also provoked ire from other unions. 

The right-wing Coordination rurale criticised “the government's unequal treatment of [farmer] mobilisations,” contrasting the FNSEA’s ability to camp outside the Assemblée with the difficulties and bans they faced during their protests last week. 

Likewise, the left-wing Confédération Paysanne said the new law, seemingly approved by the FNSEA following last night’s meeting “fails to address the anger,” in the sector. 

It points towards further protest action in the sector.