“I came to tell you that we received the message five out of five, that I heard you, that we heard you. » Traveling to a farm in Haute-Garonne in Montastruc-de-Salies, Gabriel Attal promised, Friday January 26, an “agricultural surge”, before listing several measures to try to appease the anger of the peasant world.
In response to the demonstrations and blockades by farmers, “we decided to put agriculture above everything else”, he declared, not without denouncing “blame-inducing speeches” and criticizing “those who oppose the defense of our farmers and the defense of the environment”.
Its main announcement, however, concerns the cancellation of the increase, recorded in the 2024 budget, in the tax on agricultural non-road diesel (GNR), which was to increase gradually until 2030.
Gabriel Attal announced on Friday that he was canceling the increase in the tax on non-road agricultural diesel, thus meeting one of the main demands of farmers. For a “simplification” of procedures, he also announced that tax rebates on this fuel would be deducted upon purchase, and no longer after the fact on receipt, “by the summer”.
“In the coming days”, the government will “sanction very heavily” three companies which do not respect these laws, which aim to protect the income of farmers in the context of negotiations with manufacturers and supermarkets. Mr. Attal also promised a strengthening of controls and “maximum pressure” on the ongoing negotiations between the players.
The head of government promised an administrative “shock of simplification” with “ten immediate simplification measures”. He cited in particular the “cleaning of agricultural watercourses” or “delays for appeals against agricultural projects”. Gabriel Attal also intends to “put an end to inconsistencies which benefit no one: neither farmers nor the environment”, such as “on clearing obligations or on hedges”.
The Prime Minister announced an effort to provide rapid emergency aid, particularly with regard to epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) for which state reimbursement for veterinary care increases from 80% to 90%. This disease, transmitted by biting midges, mainly affects deer and cattle. The vast majority of outbreaks are concentrated in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Hautes-Pyrénées.
Gabriel Attal announced on Friday that he was going to “donate 50 million euros for the organic sector”, growers and breeders in the sector having seen their income crumble over the last two years with the decline in demand for these products. The government had already committed in 2023 to paying 94 million euros to this sector in difficulty.
France “opposes the signing” of the controversial trade agreement between the European Union and the Latin American countries of Mercosur, assured Mr. Attal. Mercosur and the EU have been negotiating this agreement for years, which stumbles on environmental issues. French farmers, for their part, denounce in particular the risk of unfair competition from South American products that such an agreement would imply.
