A “sobriety plan on water”, another on phytosanitary products and an urgent appeal to supermarket chains to contain food prices… At this Saturday’s agricultural fair, Emmanuel Macron wanted to offer outlines of solutions to the evils that worry the French, including pension reform.
Selfies, crowd baths but also boos at times accompanied the president on his long walk that lasted around 13 hours between the stands. Under the watchful eye of Ovalie the cow, the muse of the show, she cut the inaugural ribbon and kicked off this annual event.
• An effort by distributors in the face of inflation
At a time when some fear a “red march”, which would further trigger food prices, Emmanuel Macron considered that “those who have to make an effort on their margins are the distributors”, considering that the producers had done their part given the explosion in its costs.
“What I also ask our distributors today is that they participate in the effort,” insisted the Head of State.
Emmanuel Macron launched this call a week before the end of the annual negotiations between large retailers and manufacturers, which fuel the specter of a new price rebound in a few days.
These negotiations are aimed at fixing the prices of most of the products on the shelves the following year. Traditionally they run until March 1, but this year they are particularly tense due to the inflationary context.
• A “water sobriety plan”
As France lives through an episode of historic drought this winter, Emmanuel Macron has also called for a “water sobriety plan” modeled on the “energy sobriety plan” launched to contain the effects of the war in Ukraine.
Faced with the agricultural world, the Head of State took up a formula that had hit the mark for energy: “the end of abundance” must be resolved, he warned.
“We know that we will face problems of scarcity (of water) like last summer: rather than organizing ourselves by force at the last moment with conflicts of use, we must plan all that,” he explained, adding that it was necessary to resolve in the ” end of abundance.
Thus, he called for “better collection of rainwater”, “to have fewer leaks in the water networks” and “better distribute the use of drinking water according to the users”, in particular “to continue producing and investing in the retention of slopes” . .
• Phytosanitary products, trade agreements, aid to producers…
As soon as he arrived at the Agricultural Show on Saturday, Emmanuel Macron reserved his first announcement for fishermen: for the sector, fuel aid will be extended until October.
For farmers, ranchers, fishermen, Emmanuel Macron has multiplied the gestures. He thus ruled out supporting a trade agreement with the four Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay), concluded in 2019 with the EU but not yet ratified.
It will not be “possible if they do not respect the Paris (climate) agreements like we do and if they do not respect the same environmental and health restrictions that we impose on our producers,” he said.
Emmanuel Macron again announced a “planning” regarding plant protection products, “to give visibility to our farmers”, “every time to ensure that there are alternatives and support” in particular after “(European) decisions that were taken too suddenly “.
Farmers are calling in particular for a relaxation of restrictions, such as the president of the majority union FNSEA, Christiane Lambert, who deplored “decisions that go against food sovereignty”, referring to “producers (who) cut cherry and apple trees for lack of phytosanitary products”.
• There is no “anger” but “concern” about pensions
“And they don’t talk to me so much about pensions,” Emmanuel Macron slipped during his walk. However, he was questioned on the subject and couldn’t help but confront him. The Head of State then put an end to the media discretion observed since the beginning of the debates on this reform.
Three days before the Senate’s examination of the text, Emmanuel Macron said he wanted the latter to “enrich” it. “I saw (that) the Senate wanted to advance family policy and women’s rights,” continued the head of state.
If some visitors with posters that called for a return to retirement at 60 years of age stayed away from the adventures of the Head of State, he defended his reform that maintains the distribution system – “a treasure” -, believing that there was “only one solution: work more”.
“I did not find anger among our compatriots,” he assured, however, saying he perceived “concern.”
“This is also what is expressed in the demonstrations on pensions: when we listen to the people, it is not retirement that is the issue. It is work and working conditions”, continued Emmanuel Macron, considering that “many people are protesting, it is His career perspective is ‘Does my job pay me enough or not?'”
“There is a feeling of injustice,” he still considered.
Emmanuel Macron also returned to one of the great points of debate of this reform: he reaffirmed that “these 1,200 euros of minimum pension are for those who have a full career.” Asked about agricultural retirement, the president announced that the current reform “will allow access to this system to those who have a full career.”
• The president questioned about the climate emergency
In the midst of good-natured exchanges, it was on this climate issue that the Head of State was strongly questioned by an activist from the “Last renewal” collective. With a shirt crossed out with “What are you for?”, the young man criticized Emmanuel Macron for his inaction on the climate.
“You are the demonstration of a form of civic violence,” replied the president, questioning him: “I am elected by the French people, who are you elected by?”
Moments later, the president’s bodyguards unceremoniously expelled another activist trying to arrest Emmanuel Macron, a scene widely shared on social media.
“I condemn any act of violence, whatever it may be, when it comes to detaining someone, whether physical or verbal,” the head of state said then, calling to be “never in violence” and “always in dialogue ”.
Emmanuel Macron took up the first activist by evoking “the life of farmers is the life of our compatriots”. Still questioned about “the thermal renovation of buildings”, Emmanuel Macron replied: “That’s what we are doing!”
“We cannot live in a society in which, on the one hand, you have young people, emaciated in the way they approach you, who tell you ‘we are all going to die, we are screwed, I am 26 years old’, and who do not want to talk at all”, continued Emmanuel Macron. “And you are ten meters away, and you have young or older peasants who tell you ‘I’m going to die, we change the rules all the time, I can’t live anymore,’” he concluded.
Source: BFM TV
