French farmers to lift blockades as Attal makes new concessions

French farmers’ unions said they will suspend blockades of the country’s highways after Premier Gabriel Attal pledged further measures aimed at answering their concerns.

The government set out steps including more fiscal support, a crackdown on unfair competition and tougher checks on the origin of products. Attal also reaffirmed opposition to a trade deal between the European Union and the South American Mercosur bloc.

“We’re happy the prime minister is carefully listening to us,” Arnaud Rousseau, the head of the FNSEA farmers’ union, said on Thursday. Still, he warned: “The action is transforming, it’s not ending. No one should doubt that if results aren’t there, the mobilization could re-start.”

Farmers in France, which is the EU’s biggest agricultural producer, are protesting rising costs, stringent regulations and cheap imports, while demanding more financial help and less bureaucracy.

Attal said the government would provide €150 million ($162 million) of fiscal and social support this year, and reinforce the application of rules aimed at ensuring farmers get fair prices for their produce.

The plans will also see fines of as much as 10% of revenue for big food producers and retailers that falsely label items such as chickens as originating from France, with some 10,000 inspections to be carried out.

“Some of these measures have a cost, but above all they’re an investment,” Attal said in Paris earlier on Thursday.

France also called on Brussels to take further steps. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire proposed an EU anti-fraud network to monitor central purchasing hubs that seek to get around national laws on pricing.

Attal also called for negotiations to limit grain shipments from Ukraine, and said Europe should stop allowing imports of food made using insecticides that are banned within the bloc. At the same time, France will pause a plan to reduce pesticide use.

The FNSEA’s Rousseau slammed what he called “this technocratic Europe,” saying the EU’s approach to agriculture isn’t sustainable and calling for “strong decisions to protect the European internal market.”

He added that he wants concrete results before the European Parliament elections in June.

In Brussels, at least 1,300 tractors clogged the streets near EU institutions on Thursday as farmers staged a protest aimed at leaders holding a summit. The action adds to a broader wave of demonstrations across Europe this year, including in Germany.