The French public overwhelmingly supports the farmers, with nearly nine in ten backing their protest against globalist policies from Eurocrats in Brussels and President Macron’s government in Paris.
According to an Odoxa-Backbone Consulting survey conducted on behalf of the Le Figaro newspaper, 89 per cent of the French public support the tractor protest of the nation’s farmers as they have risen up against EU green agenda policies, overregulation, increased fuel taxes and prices, and unfair pricing practices from supermarket chains.
The survey found that the support for the farmers spanned the political spectrum, with 97 per cent of centre-right Les Republicains voters backing the farmers, followed by 95 per cent of right-wing populist National Rally (RN) voters, and 94 per cent of Socialist Party voters. Support dropped slightly among Green party and leftist La France Insoumise (LFI) voters at 88 and 87 per cent respectively.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, supporters of President Emmanuel Macron were the least favourable of the farmers, with 81 per cent saying that they support the movement, but just 38 per cent saying they “completely” back the farmers.
The issue of farming and the green agenda are set to be key issues in the European Parliament elections in June. The issues facing European farmers, who have long suffered under tedious regulations and shifting climate standards, have been exacerbated by the soaring cost of fuel, inflation and the EU’s decision to allow tariff-free Ukrainian agricultural products into the bloc.
According to the survey, the French public believes that the green agenda overreach of Brussels has been harming their farming industry, with 78 per cent saying that EU policies have been “rather negative” for the farmers of France. In a bad sign for Emmanuel Macron, his government is seen in an even worse light, with 83 per cent saying that the president does not sufficiently support farmers.
While the French farmers have a long history of staging tractor and other protests, the recent “peasant” uprising has come amid a wider revolt within Europe against the globalist agenda, with tractor protests continuing across Germany, Romania and Poland. European farmers have previously seen success on the backs of their tractor protests, with Dutch farmer revolts leading to the Farmer Citizen Movement becoming the largest party in the Netherlands Senate as well as playing a key role in the sweeping victory of populist Geert Wilders in the November general election.
The latest protests in France, which began a little over a week ago, ramped up on Wednesday, with farmers covering the streets and even some government buildings in the commune of Agen with animal manure.
The farmers also set bales of hay and tires on fire outside a prefecture building. Later in the day, farmers in the area also filmed themselves burning the European Union flag.
Meanwhile, major highways, including the A35 motorway near Strasbourg was blocked off by hundreds of tractors. Farmer from Girondin also staged blockades on the Aquitaine bridge outside of Bordeaux.
So far, the protests have largely been confined to more rural areas, however, the farmer union boss Arnaud Rousseau said that they are “not excluding any option” when asked if the farmers are planning on major protests in Paris or other bigger cities.
“At this stage, what matters is to occupy the ground to show that anger is there everywhere in France and to obtain answers,” he said, adding: “We are not here to annoy the French, we would prefer to be on our farms. But at the moment we are in, we have no choice. We have to go, there is no spirit of retreat.”