environmentalists inflict a symbolic defeat on the government

Adopted in the National Assembly this Thursday, April 4, the bill “aimed at guaranteeing a dignified income for farmers” should be rejected during its next examination in the Senate. But, helped by the other left-wing parties, the environmentalists have put the presidential camp in difficulty.

Emmanuel Macron had pleaded for the establishment of floor prices but the Renaissance deputies did not follow him. This did not prevent the environmentalist bill in favor of floor prices for farmers from being adopted this Thursday, April 4 in the National Assembly, in a more than sparse chamber. A symbolic victory for the EELV deputies, the text not being binding.

Marie Pochon’s bill was approved by 89 votes to 66. The left voted for, the presidential majority against, the RN abstained and the Republicans were not present at the time of the vote.

The text takes up a measure proposed by La France insoumise and which was narrowly rejected in the hemicycle in November.

• Not all sectors will necessarily be affected

But two months after the farmers’ angry movement, the vote this Thursday in the National Assembly has the air of symbols. The bill provides for a minimum purchase price set by “a public conference”. Except that this “public conference” can only be held “at the request of a majority of its producers” in a sector.

Only if a majority of producers in a sector agree to convene this conference, it will then take place each year, before December 31, under the aegis of the agricultural commercial relations mediator, appointed by the government.

• The government will decide in the event of disagreement

The prices thus determined will make it possible to pay farmers twice the minimum wage, the minimum price being able to be reviewed every four months. “The public sector conference determines a minimum purchase price for agricultural products, which cannot be lower than production costs,” specifies the bill.

“In the event of a presumption of a sharp increase or drop in agricultural production costs”, a new public sector conference is convened to determine a new minimum purchase price. Finally, if no agreement is reached during the negotiations, a report of the discussions is given to the government which can set a minimum price.

• The Senate must now adopt the text

On the bench for the government, the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Agriculture Agnès Pannier-Runacher vigorously rejected the system proposed by Marie Pochon, judging it “ineffective” even if the government “fully shares (her) concern” as to the income of farmers.

“The path leading to administered prices must be ruled out” because it is not the government which “can determine the price for an economic sector,” she said.

The Senate must now vote on the bill, the text following the parliamentary shuttle. But its adoption is far from guaranteed. At the end of February, the leader of Les Républicains senators Bruno Retailleau denounced “a very bad idea, promoted in particular by LFI”.

“It will be a universal agricultural minimum income, a socialist idea! The floor price will become a market price in Egalim. In the diversity of regions and farms, the gaps will widen. We are walking on our heads!” wrote the senator from Vendée on X.

But by inflicting a symbolic defeat on the government, environmentalists can smile. A few hours earlier, they won a first battle in the hemicycle, with the adoption of a bill, again against the advice of the executive, to restrict the diffusion of eternal pollutants.

Six other texts were on the menu of the environmentalist “niche”, which, like all these days reserved for opposition groups, was to end inexorably at midnight. Due to lack of time, they could not be debated.

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