Behind the blockades: Witness joins France's protesting farmers

euronews (in English)

France's farmers are angry. They say they're being strangled by a toxic combination of red tape, trade deals, unrealistic prices and ecological measures. Witness joins them as they head towards blockades in Paris.

Transcript

00:00 [French newsreel]

00:02 France remains the first agricultural producer in Europe,

00:04 but its farmers denounce their working conditions.

00:07 They have reversed the traffic signs with this slogan

00:10 "We walk on our heads".

00:12 30 years ago, they were 5 million,

00:15 against 400,000 today.

00:16 We even want to say to ourselves

00:20 "Who will feed us tomorrow?"

00:22 because we are not sure we are still there.

00:24 Key words of anger

00:26 Free trade

00:27 Open markets

00:28 Green pact

00:29 Bureaucracy

00:30 It's a general fatigue

00:32 on a very heavy mental load.

00:35 What are the reasons for such anger

00:44 and such mobilization?

00:45 This is what I tell you in Witness.

00:47 Flora's farming has no sheep.

00:54 Everybody goes in here.

00:57 Her job is in danger.

00:59 The European Union has just signed a free trade agreement

01:02 with New Zealand

01:03 which allows the importation of sheep

01:05 for half of its value in France.

01:07 We will find in the shops

01:10 which are all around

01:11 sheep from New Zealand

01:13 which will have done 18,000 km.

01:14 We are talking about ecology.

01:16 And it affects our neighbors

01:18 Germans,

01:20 Greeks, Spaniards.

01:22 It really affects many, many countries around.

01:24 It's not for nothing.

01:26 So when

01:29 the re-imposition

01:30 and the retreat

01:32 why don't we want to question ourselves?

01:34 We question ourselves every day

01:35 about our farms.

01:36 The application of the European Green Pact

01:39 a set of standards in favor of the ecological transition

01:42 is at the heart of the agricultural anger.

01:44 Xavier, who is a farmer and a cereal farmer

01:47 is preparing to block Paris.

01:49 There are some traitors who have entered Paris

01:53 and what they want is support on the outskirts of Paris.

01:56 I like to protest but I also like my little comfort.

01:59 So possibly

02:00 I don't really want to sleep

02:02 at the star of that time.

02:04 So we will take everything we need.

02:06 For Xavier, it is impossible to leave the farm alone.

02:09 He will therefore call on the former owner,

02:11 his father.

02:12 You

02:14 you will leave it for three days?

02:16 Three days?

02:17 Until Thursday, yes.

02:18 Thursday evening.

02:19 Do you think they will let you drive like that?

02:22 [dog barking]

02:23 Do you have the keys?

02:27 Yes, I have the keys.

02:28 Did you send a photo?

02:29 Not yet.

02:30 I'm happy to have the support

02:33 despite everything.

02:36 To consider.

02:37 Yes, yes.

02:38 In order to pay the salary of a worker

02:41 young farmers often use their relatives.

02:44 I've been retired for 12 years.

02:46 I can't stop coming to see the farm.

02:50 I've been working here for 40 years.

02:53 It's an obligation for me.

02:56 I'm very proud because before,

02:58 as an engineer, I worked in the private sector.

03:01 And she left everything behind

03:03 to take over the farm

03:05 to take over her sheep.

03:07 Yes, I'm very proud.

03:09 Are you worried about her too?

03:11 What?

03:12 Are you worried about her too?

03:13 Very.

03:14 Because we had to be careful.

03:15 At the time we were there,

03:17 we had to be careful to get in.

03:19 We had to take the combines we didn't learn at school.

03:21 And they taught us things

03:23 we didn't learn at school.

03:25 She doesn't want to.

03:27 Damn it.

03:28 Wait.

03:29 The problem is that what we sell,

03:35 we sell it.

03:36 We buy a kilo of sheep for 30 euros.

03:39 We sell it at 8.

03:41 It's too much.

03:42 It's too much, that's for sure.

03:44 It's obvious.

03:45 Yes.

03:46 Of course, if we could reap the fruits of our labor

03:49 and be able to improve the working conditions,

03:52 the working conditions,

03:54 in the first place,

03:55 we would be even more isolated.

03:57 I remember when I was little,

04:00 there were other farms in the neighborhood

04:03 and I always saw you

04:04 call me and say, "Come and visit."

04:07 But now it doesn't exist anymore.

04:09 Much less.

04:10 And there's no one, right?

04:14 Xavier is ready to join one of the 120 blockade points.

04:17 Nearly 6,000 tractors, including Xavier's,

04:22 will be mobilized in the days to come.

04:24 They will mark the strongest of the mobilization,

04:27 supported by 8 French out of 10.

04:29 What we feel about this one compared to before

04:34 is the support,

04:35 the support of the fellow citizens,

04:38 of our neighbors.

04:40 [train horn]

04:45 At first, it was a European problem,

04:48 but France, the French state,

04:50 adds problems to it.

04:52 It hides behind a Europe

04:54 by saying it's Europe the problem,

04:56 but I think it's happy to add more

04:59 and to support us with a system called "AID"

05:02 so that we can shut up.

05:04 And now I think it's over.

05:08 The goal is to get together more and more

05:10 and to influence Paris together.

05:12 In numbers.

05:14 Europe first protected farmers,

05:19 but in 1992, with the Common Agriculture Policy,

05:22 it aligned their prices with those of the global market

05:25 and set up a compensation system

05:27 that keeps their heads out of the water.

05:30 Xavier's father is also aware of the current situation.

05:34 It's a satisfaction.

05:36 We see our son keep growing.

05:39 We see him evolve.

05:41 It's good.

05:43 We've had crises in terms of income.

05:47 It's not new.

05:49 The worst is the administrative constraints,

05:52 the regulations.

05:54 It's like sleeping on your feet.

05:56 You have to walk on your head because there are things to do.

05:59 Before joining the blockade,

06:01 Flora has to take on administrative tasks

06:04 that take up to an hour of her time a day.

06:07 This is traceability,

06:09 the tracking of births.

06:11 These are things that will always accumulate,

06:14 that repeat themselves,

06:16 that still need to be provided by the administration.

06:20 Or it hasn't been taken care of,

06:22 so we have to send another document.

06:24 It's the daily work of farmers.

06:26 I asked Flora what she thought of ecology.

06:29 How can we work with living things

06:32 while being against ecology?

06:35 It's like shooting yourself in the foot.

06:37 It's easy politically to go up against each other.

06:41 But there's no such thing as ecology and agriculture.

06:45 Not at all.

06:47 And there's even water.

06:54 Water with the heater.

06:56 Please.

06:57 We can have a seat.

06:59 They won't kick us out.

07:02 Facing pressure in the Paris region,

07:05 the government is planning new announcements.

07:08 Farmers are getting together to keep the count.

07:11 I'm in the car.

07:13 I joined the convoy in the middle of the afternoon.

07:17 I'm in my teens at the moment.

07:20 I left my sheep temporarily for a few hours

07:24 to join the movement.

07:26 It's important to me to be here

07:28 and to continue to support the people.

07:31 It was long, but we got there.

07:39 Now we just have to stay.

07:42 We'll try to stay until they announce something.

07:48 Beyond a promise of administrative simplification,

07:52 the government is committed to reducing pesticides,

07:55 to maintaining tax cuts on GNR,

07:58 the farmers' fuel,

08:00 and to not want the European Free Trade Treaty

08:03 with Latin America, the MERCOSUR.

08:06 The main agricultural unions decide to leave

08:09 on the third day of the blockade.

08:11 We're leaving.

08:13 We'll leave a little memento.

08:19 On their last position,

08:22 it's impossible to reach Xavier.

08:25 We called him 400 metres away.

08:28 The state of mind is...

08:30 it's mixed.

08:32 It's not calmer.

08:34 It's mixed.

08:36 For me, the last announcements,

08:39 the tone of voice was completely different.

08:42 The will to work was much more...

08:45 it was much more demonstrative

08:47 on the will to work with the profession

08:50 I want to tell the farmers this morning

08:53 that with my ministers, we want to move forward for them

08:56 and we'll announce new measures.

08:58 Escort them.

09:00 So they don't go left.

09:02 We'll call them.

09:04 Have a good trip, Xavier.

09:06 The government will continue to multiply the announcements.

09:09 The farmers lift the blockades, but do not lower their guard.

09:12 We'll wait for the new announcements again,

09:15 but honestly, there's disappointment.

09:18 There's disappointment in the group.

09:21 It's a political story, a big-money story.

09:24 That's what's happening.

09:27 We're not weighing, okay,

09:30 but it means that a handful are leading the world

09:33 at their mercy and imposing a model.

09:36 Everyone must follow. We're not sheep.

09:39 That's it.

09:41 It's disgusting.

09:44 [grunting]

09:46 [grunting]

09:49 [♪♪♪]

09:53 [♪♪♪]

09:56 (dramatic music)

Category

Transcript

Recommended