“It’s not a health crisis, it’s a political crisis,” says Éric Michoux

This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the interview above. Click on the video to watch it in full.

Saturday, December 20, the blockages linked to the anger of farmers continued. Around fifty actions were listed. Some farmers are calling for the movement to continue, even during the end-of-year holidays.

Djamel Mazi: Do you support the continuation of the movement to continue to mobilize during the Christmas period and even beyond in January?

Eric Michoux : Completely, I support this lawsuit. In fact, this is not a health crisis, it is a huge political crisis. Today, the problems we have linked to the virus are only the tip of the iceberg, of unhappiness among the population and our farmers. We are talking about a profession which is having difficulty existing, which is constrained by absolute rules in every sense, constrained by endless standards and from which, we ask the most important thing, which is to feed us. This is their main job and we should have respect for them. I don’t think the government is taking things the right way. At some point, we will have to tackle the problem of agriculture in France head on.

If I understand correctly, it is that you support that there be no truce?

I have nothing to say to them on the matter. They are old enough to know what they are going to do, but I support their approach. It is a cry of revolt. You realize, in less than 20 years, 4 million farms have become 400,000. It is a complete decline of this country.

Today, three quarters of the chickens sold in France are no longer made in France. 10 years ago, half was made in France. Most of them come from Ukraine, in sanitary conditions that are not even equal to our own rules. So, we are creating a distortion of competition between countries outside France and the European Union, and which is putting our farmers in complete disarray.

Ultimately, is the health doctrine of the Ministry of Agriculture, which is based on vaccination, no export, slaughter as soon as a case appears, not bearing fruit because the epidemic seems to be contained?

Perhaps, but going as far as the complete destruction of cattle herds is not acceptable. In the end we wonder whether we should destroy cattle or agriculture. This disease, this virus does not attack humans. The meat of cattle that have experienced this virus is completely edible. What is going in the very right direction is vaccination. We wonder why this hasn’t been done before.

Is the method not correct?

It’s too late. All of this actually comes down to a political crisis where we are not taking things head on. A virus spreads. This is not new. Unfortunately, we are coming out of something very serious and we continue, in this same process, to fall behind when we see something coming. So today, it is the farmers who are paying the bill for all this.

Mercosur, which was, as far as the signature is concerned, postponed until January 12, Emmanuel Macron who insists that robust clauses are needed, in particular mirror clauses, to protect French agriculture. In your opinion, Mercosur should be signed with these conditions, imposed by the Head of State?

In its current state, we should not sign Mercosur, even if they say that there are mirror clauses, clauses which allow us to regain a certain equality in trade. He is most certainly right. Mercosur, in some ways, perhaps has advantages in industrial aspects, but when it comes to agriculture as such, it creates unacceptable competition for our farmers since the standards in which the products are produced, whether poultry or cattle, are not the same. So today we are going to re-import low-cost products, which are not manufactured in the same way that we force our farmers to do. So there is unfair competition again. This is what we must fight for.