Paris: Farmers Block Motorways With Tractor Barricades as 'Siege' Begins

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Facts

  • French farmers descended on Paris with tractor barricades and slow-driving convoys on Monday after the government's pro-agriculture measures failed to defuse their protests for better pay and streamlined regulations. The protestors characterized their intent to disrupt Paris as a "siege."1
  • The country's two largest farming unions have said that their members would block the Rungis wholesale food market as well as occupy all the major roads leading to the capital to pressure the government to meet their demands.2
  • This comes after Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced 10 immediate concessions to protesting farmers on Friday, including simplifying regulations and dropping a plan that would increase fuel costs.3
  • He also promised that France would continue to object to the EU-Mercosur trade deal, which has been under negotiation for years and sowed seeds of discontent among farmers about competition with Latin American countries.4
  • According to the AFP, Attal was expected to meet with union leaders later on Monday. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has directed security officials to prevent demonstrators from blocking routes to Paris airports or occupying the Rungis market, as well as any incursion into the capital itself.5
  • Farm income in France has reportedly fallen considerably amid a push to tackle food inflation, leaving producers unable to cover high costs for energy and transport. Similar protests have been seen elsewhere in Europe, with farmers disrupting traffic around Brussels on Monday and nearly bringing Berlin to a standstill earlier this month.6

Sources: 1Associated Press (a), 2Yahoo News, 3BBC News, 4Associated Press (b), 5France 24 and 6Reuters.

Narratives

  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by ZeroHedge. Echoing the peasant wars of the Middle Ages, farmers in Europe are now staging mass demonstrations against the crumbling postwar European power structures that have shifted onto their own food suppliers the burdens of sustaining the prolonged agony of the neoliberal US world empire. Yet, mainstream media have downplayed this continent-wide farming revolution as a minor development — as if they have been instructed what and what not to cover.
  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Euractiv. Farmers have reasons to protest, but the far-right has fueled their outrage against the EU with false claims to attract new voters in the run-up to European elections this summer, given that only one-quarter of the French farming community cast a far-right vote in the past presidential elections. Meanwhile, the French government has been left with a delicate balance to walk as it must meet their demands to prevent another volatile chapter in the "Gilets Jaunes" yellow vests movement.

Predictions