Many French farmers are worried that the political tensions surrounding the formation of a new government will come at the expense of previous commitments to the agricultural sector. Prime Minister Barnier had made several commitments to French agricultural organizations in recent months, but his government has since fallen.
In France, the successes of the farmers' protests are again at risk of being undone by impending political changes. The fall of the government due to a vote of no confidence has caused consternation in parts of the agricultural sector.
The Association of Chambers of Agriculture spoke of a “real catastrophe” and said that the sector should not be held hostage by political disputes. The farmers’ association urged farmers to temporarily stop cooperating with official inspections on the farm. Such threats are, by the way, very common in the relationship between French farmers and the government in Paris.
The president of the French Farmers' Association (FNSEA), Arnaud Rousseau, called on all farmers on social media to hold their constituency MPs accountable and ask how previous promises should be fulfilled. According to Rousseau, farmers should also refuse all official controls until the concessions are implemented.
The FNSEA president called on the future prime minister to immediately guarantee the implementation of all previously announced measures after the inauguration. It is not yet known who will succeed Prime Minister Barnier. It is also uncertain whether there will be a new Minister of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, the smaller agricultural association Coordination Rurale (CR) was emphatically neutral. That association holds President Emmanuel Macron responsible for alleviating farmers' concerns and fulfilling the promises already made by the Barnier cabinet.
Barnier recently announced that he would meet the central demands of the protesting farmers. President Macron has stressed that he will appoint a new prime minister as soon as possible. However, it is still completely unclear which parliamentary coalition the new government can rely on and to what extent it will feel bound by the commitments of its predecessors.
As is well known, no parliamentary group won a majority in the July parliamentary elections. Surprisingly, the left-wing alliance 'New Popular Front' (NFP) became the strongest group with 182 MPs. The centre around Macron won 168 seats, the right-wing populist Rassemblement National (RN) and extreme allies have 143 seats in the National Assembly.
The left-wing alliance was not in Barnier's cabinet. The conservative Republicans, on the other hand, have only 46 members in the lower house, but still have several ministers, including the current head of the agriculture department, Annie Genevard.