Angry French Farmers Block Roads Around Paris and Threaten Capital Entry
French farmers today blocked one of the main motorways connecting Paris to the northern city of Lille and Belgium, causing prolonged traffic jams as part of nationwide protests against low food prices and excessive bureaucracy, France24 reports.
Two motorways in the south of France, including the main route to Spain, were closed on Friday for nearly 400 kilometres due to a farm traffic jam, with only tractor convoys travelling on the lanes.
Unions are staging roadblocks in and around Paris to increase pressure on the government of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, which farmers accuse of not doing enough to help them.
"We're going straight to Paris to show our anger and our dissatisfaction," said farmer Matteo Legrand.
According to a document seen by Reuters, the Ile-de-France regional branch of the FNSEA farmers' union plans to set up 11 roadblocks on major commuter routes around Paris, including the A6, A10 and A13.
Attal's office said that the prime minister will give a speech on farmers' problems in a mountain village near the Spanish border, about 800 km from Paris.
In an effort to ease tensions, the finance and agriculture ministers discussed fair prices for produce on Friday with food industry officials - the "number one priority" for farmers who say they are suffering from government efforts to lower consumer prices.
"The central issue is related to farmers' incomes," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said after the meeting, adding that the government will "redouble" its efforts to implement a law aimed at guaranteeing fair prices for farmers.
Earlier, "farmers' protests" swept across Europe, from Poland, Slovakia and Romania, which blocked the borders with Ukraine, to Germany, where protesters on agricultural machinery demanded preferences and compensation from their government by blocking roads.
In turn, the Polish government signed an agreement with its farmers to end the blockade of the border with Ukraine. And the Romanian government provided subsidies to its farmers, including diesel subsidies and state aid schemes for livestock farmers.