The protest that French farmers have been leading for days took a tragic turn yesterday morning, with the fatal run-down of a farmer and her teenage daughter in the department of Arieja, in the south of the country. A vehicle ran over the victims after investing a barrier of straw bales on the road, in the middle of the night. The husband and father of the victims was seriously injured.
According to the first indications, the collision, near a bridge, was not premeditated. An investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office is underway for alleged involuntary manslaughter. The three occupants of the vehicle were Armenian citizens in an irregular situation and under orders to leave the country. They were heading to Andorra. The analyzes did not detect any traces of alcohol or drugs.
Following the example of German, Dutch, Polish and other European farmers and ranchers, French farmers are taking action to express their displeasure at the effects of inflation and the consequences of the Green Deal, which will condition their activity in next years; for example, in the use of pesticides. There is also strong opposition to the rise in diesel that is planned for tractors.
So far, the most virulent French protests have taken place near Toulouse, with the closure of the A64 motorway, which connects Biarritz on the Atlantic coast. The mobilization has spread to other regions. In an attempt to calm spirits, there was a meeting on Monday night in Paris between the new prime minister, Gabriel Attal, the head of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, and the agricultural union Fnsea.
For years, the French countryside has had problems due to structural factors, European politics, pressure from ecologists and the difficult generational transition. The high suicide rate among farmers inspired a film, based on a real case, which had a great impact.
The European elections, on June 9, are no stranger to mobilizations. Farmers and ranchers understand that this is an opportune time to put pressure on the parties. The far-right National Reunification already announced that it wanted to turn the elections into “a referendum on the survival of French agriculture” in the face of EU policy and “unfair competition” from other countries.
The National Assembly paid tribute to the dead farmer. Attal, very combative, lashed out at environmentalists and the extreme right for “their crocodile tears” for farmers. The head of the Government accused the former of opposing everything, such as the irrigation ponds; and the second, of lying after hinting that it is possible to leave the EU.
