France’s two main farming unions on Thursday called for blockades besieging Paris and other cities to be suspended after the government announced a clampdown on food imports.
“We have decided that at present, given everything that has been announced ... we need to change our methods of action, and so we are calling on our networks ... to suspend the blockades and embark on a new form of mobilisation,” said Arnaud Gaillot, head of the Jeunes Agriculteurs (Young Farmers) union, alongside Arnaud Rousseau, the FNSEA boss.
The two unions had joined forces to block all main entrances to Paris this week, while a smaller union, Coordination Rurale, mounted more militant action by seeking to storm Europe’s biggest fresh food market, Rungis, leading to 91 arrests.
The call to end the blockade came after Gabriel Attal, the prime minister, announced that France would protect its farmers from “the law of the jungle” by becoming self-reliant in food while tightening import controls.
With 1,300 tractors converging on the European Parliament in Brussels from across the Continent to protest against environmental regulations, Mr Attal said he wanted to “better recognise the farming profession”, “protect against unfair competition” and “give value back to our food”.
He offered measures including an annual €150 million (£128 million) for livestock farmers and a ban on food imports treated with thiacloprid, a pesticide banned in France.
He added that the government would stop imposing stricter environmental regulations than the EU requires.