French farmers protesting against wages and working conditions and a future trade deal between the EU and Latin America lifted the blockade on the Spanish border on Wednesday after a message of support from Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
The hardline farmers’ union Coordination Rurale (CR) has lifted the roadblock for heavy trucks on the A9 highway, which connects southwestern France with northeastern Spain, police said.
Organizers had previously said they planned to maintain the barricade, aimed at causing shortages of produce in French supermarkets.
Barnier spoke by telephone with another CR branch from the western Lot-et-Garonne region.
“Your prime minister knows and respects farmers. I will do everything I can… fulfill the many commitments that have been made,” the prime minister, a former agriculture minister, said in comments captured by multiple media cameras, including AFPTV.
So far, the French political community, up to and including President Emmanuel Macron, has echoed rural opposition to the Mercosur deal.
Barnier’s office told AFP he had also spoken by phone to Arnaud Rousseau, head of the heavyweight farmers’ union FNSEA.
Farmers launched hugely disruptive demonstrations in early 2024, including blocking many highways in France and Europe, over issues such as low prices for their products and environmental regulations.
French protesters won concessions from the government, but their implementation was interrupted by President Emmanuel Macron’s call for new elections in June.
Backlash has been reignited by the prospect of an EU deal with the Mercosur bloc – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – that would create the world’s largest free trade zone.
“The aim is to once again increase the pressure to speak out against things that cannot be accepted. And, as I keep saying, always with respect for property and people,” Rousseau told broadcaster Franceinfo on Wednesday.
The head of the FNSEA wanted to distinguish his team from CR, some of whose members this week dumped waste outside regional government buildings, broke into the French biodiversity authority and set up the highway blockade.
Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard told broadcaster France 2 that such methods are “unacceptable” and risk eroding widespread public sympathy for farmers.
Renewed farmers’ protests come weeks before elections to the regional Chambers of Agriculture, with smaller unions CR and Confederation Paysanne hoping to loosen the FNSEA’s tight grip.
Confederation Paysanne on Wednesday attacked the headquarters of Haropa Port in Rouen, a state-owned company that manages the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris.
“The only people who benefit from free trade are the food industry, large-scale farms, traders, chemical manufacturers and financial institutions that speculate on all this,” said Mathieu Grenier, one of about 20 farmers demonstrating outside the offices.
“For farmers, there will be many more losers than winners,” he added.
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