'Grist to far right's mill': Has Macron 'failed to take the agriculture sector seriously'?
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00:00 Well let's hop across the channel to the UK bringing Paul Smith who's Associate
00:03 Professor of French Studies at the University of Nottingham. Paul what's
00:07 your take on this? You know we've talked to you in the past over the protests of
00:11 the Gilets Jaunes, also the the pension strike as well. How are you seeing this
00:15 brewing at the moment? Well it's a little bit of a little bit of both but very
00:21 different as well. Of course it's a single sector although it's an enormous
00:23 sector in France, the agricultural sector. What's very interesting about you
00:28 mentioned in your report the European dimension and the idea of what the
00:32 French called 'conquérance des loyales', this idea that in other countries
00:35 governments are not applying or officials are not applying the law in
00:40 quite the same way as they are in France. But there's a there's a European
00:43 dimension, there's a national dimension, there are also very local dimensions. You
00:47 know it starts off in the in the southeast of France. There are different
00:51 arguments going on in Brittany but it's a very diffuse, very diverse, very
00:56 diffuse protest but also brings all of those things together. Now the problem
01:01 for the government is addressing all of those things and trying to to take the
01:05 tension out of the situation. It does seem like they're in a rock and a hard
01:10 place when it comes to the fact that you have the promotion from President
01:13 Macron of green policies that also is reflected within the EU as well.
01:18 Ursula von der Leyen, she wants to be her legacy a position as well whilst
01:22 farmers saying that we are struggling to survive with this and yet you have the
01:26 new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal going to a farm himself. He was urged to go to
01:30 see it and now saying this is number one priority right now in France. But Paul it
01:34 it doesn't seem to be, well it's certainly falling on deaf ears right now.
01:39 Yes I think the problem is that there is so much bureaucracy. Certainly French
01:43 farmers feel that there's an awful lot of bureaucracy they're having to deal
01:46 with. You know one of the great French pinch points is always that having to
01:51 deal with the you know norms and and in introducing these policies I think that
01:56 the French farmers feel that they're being they're being persecuted and
01:59 there's a great deal of support for them. First of all from a people that feel
02:03 that they're also kind of victims of this these norms but also that you know
02:08 they feel a kind of a common bond to farmers. Everybody is two or three
02:12 generations away from what they feel they are. Two or three generations from
02:16 being a farmer. But also it's very interesting this idea that Gérard
02:20 Dahamena is saying that if you had any other kind of protest if this were a
02:24 bunch of kids kicking off in the banlieue the Brioche police would be there and
02:28 they'd be handing out some pretty unpleasant kind of sanctions. But there's
02:34 this kind of sense that the farmers can do this. The problem for the for the
02:38 government is at what point you try and stop this happening and there's a great
02:42 deal there's a great deal of sympathy on one side but also at what point does
02:46 this public support for this drain away. But how the government handles this is
02:50 you know the riot police turning up this morning with with armoured trucks
02:56 I mean not armoured in the sense of having arms but but pretty serious gear
03:00 turning up at Angiste this morning. It's actually quite a serious development in
03:03 terms of maintaining supply. I think you've just hit upon it there. The idea
03:08 that you know this wave moves whilst there may be popular support behind it. I
03:12 know there are certain EU figures particularly concerned and for a long
03:16 while you know and I think this was a thought in the UK as well French
03:19 farmers unions are far too powerful. It was one of the issues that some of the
03:24 pro-Brexiteers would argue about the money being allocated. I just wonder
03:28 whether you think actually this is what it's going to come down to. Promises by
03:30 the French government and ultimately where popular support lies. I think there
03:36 is some legitimacy to the to the complaints. There's a there's a law in
03:40 France, this Egalim law which is all about trying to correct the problems of
03:45 income for farmers and that the problem with that is that that's been hit by
03:48 inflation. So actually maintaining those levels that that kind of hasn't happened.
03:53 But certainly there's it's not so much the power of the agricultural unions but
03:59 that very strong sense you know it's really linked isn't it to this sense of
04:03 of French identity that gastronomy and agriculture and all of these things are
04:07 linked together. So there's that there's whereas farmers in Britain are certainly
04:12 discontent, they're certainly disgruntled with things that are happening for all
04:15 kinds of reasons. They don't have this you can't imagine this happening in
04:19 Britain because he just wouldn't have the popular support at least not for
04:22 such a sustained action. Whereas this cultural and political power of the
04:28 farmers rightly or wrongly and we we could debate that another time is
04:33 incredibly powerful and has a great deal of support even though I mean the trade
04:37 unions in France the farmers unions will be thinking we need to be also careful
04:42 the point at which it tips the other way. There is there will be a tipping point.
04:45 Briefly Paul ahead of the European elections this summer as a seasoned
04:51 France watcher do you see this starting to subside or starting to snowball? I
04:56 think it will subside it can't it won't last all the way through to the European
05:00 elections but my goodness this is grist to the ensemble nationals mill. I mean
05:05 you're all the broad opposition that the government has failed that Macron since
05:09 2017 has failed to take the the agricultural sector seriously despite
05:15 things like the the Egalim law and all of that all of that legislation you know
05:20 that's that kind of is there. These things have happened but they don't seem
05:24 to be having an impact and so the the opposition to Macron whether it's on
05:28 the left or the far right is going to be able to make a great deal of no pun
05:32 intended hay out of this out of this crisis. Paul thank you Paul
05:37 associate professor of French studies at the University of Nottingham Paul Smith.