If you recall, last week I posted about hundreds of protesting German Farmers. Now? There are French Farmers protesting, and they have a better publicity dept, who realized they needed a celeb to help get some sympathy and attention for their cause. They picked Jeremy Clarkson

French farmers, who have been blockading Paris with their tractors for the past week to protest the economic crisis facing the country’s agricultural sector, and the Jan 26th govt cut of the agricultural diesel fuel subsidy, have found an unlikely hero in Jeremy Clarkson.

As of Tuesday morning, all major highways into Paris were blocked by some 500 tractors and similar operations were underway around other key French cities. Three separate convoys were also attempting to blockade the Rungis wholesale food market south of Paris which is the source of fresh food for the French capital.
 

French farmers say their sector is on the brink of collapse as incomes fall due to rising environmental regulations, red tape and competition from cheaper imports, all issues Clarkson has talked about in his show in relation to British farming.

“We need one of our French celebrities to do the same thing as Jeremy Clarkson in Amazon Prime Series Clarkson’s Farm,” protesting French farmer Robi Leduc told a reporter

https://deadline.com/2024/01/protesting-french-farmers-praise-on-clarksons-farm-1235808298/

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/french-farmers-block-roads-with-tractors-press-government-for-action

In Belgium, farmers angry with EU environmental policies and cheap imports, plan to block access roads to the Zeebrugge container port in Belgium from Tuesday.

Since 2022, farmers in northern (the Netherlands, Germany), southern (Italy) and eastern Europe (Poland, Romania, and Lithuania) have been setting up shop outside government quarters and camping tractors and forestry trucks on main roads.

The French protests follow similar action in other European countries, including Germany and Poland, ahead of European Parliament elections in June in which the far right, for whom farmers represent a growing constituency, is seen making gains.

French farmers have vowed to blockade the Paris region until their demands are met, keeping up the pressure ahead of an extraordinary European summit on 1 February. On Wednesday, over one hundred roads were blocked and 10,000 people demonstrating across the country, according to the French interior ministry. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, just named to lead the government, is grappling with his first crisis, with grievances focused on new environmental norms, fuel taxes, free trade and wages.

In France, the government, wary of seeing the protests escalate and with an eye on the European elections, has already dropped plans to gradually reduce subsidies on agricultural diesel and promised to ease environmental regulations.

https://theconversation.com/french-tractor-protests-are-the-latest-rebellion-of-eu-farmers-against-unfair-competition-and-red-tape-will-their-strategy-pay-off-222212

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-01-29/france-wants-eu-law-changes-this-week-to-help-protesting-farmers-minister