'Very determined': Striking French farmers vow to continue 'siege of Paris'
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00:00 We can now go across to Carys Garland standing by on the outskirts of Paris.
00:03 Carys, good afternoon. What's the situation where you are?
00:07 Well, we are on one of the main highways leading into Paris
00:13 that's situated between Orly Airport and the Rangis International Market.
00:19 So a strategic and symbolic point for farmers here.
00:22 There are over 100 tractors.
00:24 The sentiment here is very much determined to keep going with this protest movement.
00:29 And I'm joined by Nicolas Galpin.
00:32 He's a cereal and sheep farmer, as well as a beekeeper
00:35 and a president of the Beekeeping Commission for a Local Union.
00:38 Thank you for being with us on France 24.
00:41 What are you personally hoping to get out of this protest movement?
00:45 I mean, there's a long list of demands, but what are the most important ones for you?
00:49 For me, the most important is the subsidies, the European subsidies,
00:58 the government this time in the new policy
01:05 wanted us to get more biodiversity and more environments.
01:11 And so if you get to this step, you would get more subsidies.
01:18 But in fact, the farming ministry didn't
01:24 expect so many farmers getting to the top level.
01:28 So they didn't
01:30 imagine we could be so many.
01:36 And so I'm losing 4000 euros a year of subsidies because
01:42 we did we did
01:46 we change our farming
01:49 and we could we sorry.
01:52 This is so noisy here.
01:54 The honking that you're hearing is largely for support in the for the farmers.
02:02 So good in one sense, but can be a bit distracting
02:05 when it's every 30 seconds, quite overwhelming.
02:07 Yeah, it's it's very nice for us.
02:11 87% of French people
02:15 supporting this farming process.
02:19 This it's it's very nice.
02:23 We like it and we hope it
02:27 it will add some more pressure to the to the government.
02:31 Another issue that you are concerned about is the imports of grain
02:37 and poultry, for example, from Ukraine.
02:39 This is a European issue.
02:43 Also, how hopeful are you that France can put pressure on Brussels
02:48 to to to respond to this?
02:50 That's that's a big thing. Yeah.
02:53 Marcus, who Ukraine and New Zealand, all these
02:58 points are important.
03:02 We can't be we can't receive
03:05 the food from this country without
03:08 the same rules as us.
03:12 It's just unfair.
03:14 So that's one of the reasons of the protests as well.
03:19 And the the agricultural minister this morning said that the prime
03:24 minister will announce new measures before the end of the week.
03:27 It seems a little bit like deja vu, as Gabrielle Talet
03:30 was supposed to announce things last week.
03:32 He did, which was largely not enough for the people here.
03:36 What happens if, again, it's not enough for you?
03:39 Will people continue to come out here and and and block roads and protests?
03:44 How long will people be willing to stay out here?
03:49 No idea. I hope we will come back to the our farms and keep working.
03:54 It's all in the hands of the of the government, all the ministers.
04:01 So, yeah, we we hope it will.
04:04 They will definitely hear what we we want to to change.
04:10 Because we would like to come back home.
04:15 But yeah, we we're ready.
04:18 Everything is organized to to stay a week or even longer.
04:23 One person told me that you're ready to stay even a month.
04:26 So, yeah, yeah.
04:28 We've got a goal in three weeks.
04:33 There will be the big farming show in France.
04:36 So that's another goal for us in the in the process.
04:44 All right. That agricultural fair, obviously a very important moment
04:48 for France's agricultural industry.
04:51 The farmers here will be hoping that things will be much calmer
04:54 and back to normal by then.
04:56 We'll have to wait and see what the government comes out with
04:58 by the end of the week.
04:59 We'll see how things pan out.
05:01 Thank you very much for that, Karis.
05:02 Karis Garland reporting there from the outskirts of Paris.