After Breton cauliflower, broccoli and artichoke producers violently demonstrated in the Finistère at the end of last week, the Minister of Agriculture, Stéphane Le Foll promised vegetable producers in difficulty that he would take “concrete and rapid” measures.
He also evoked new measures on a European scale, “to reintroduce artichokes, broccoli and cauliflower in the list of products needing aid : each sector is organised so as to make demands”.
Stéphane Le Foll denies acting under pressure from the demonstrators who set fire to the local agricultural mutuality in Morlaix on Friday, an incident which he condemns, “I will not hear that one has to set fire in order to be heard”. He goes on to say that the meeting with producers from Saint-Pol de Léon and other areas has been planned “since 22nd August” in order to deal with the consequences of the Russian embargo. “If we don’t coordinate on a European scale, the risk of having prices plummeting is big over all sectors : fruit and vegetables, porcine and bovine meat” sais Stéphane Le Foll. “Market destabilisation has begun” he underlines, reminding that over 200 million Euro were released by the European Commission in order to face up to the situation.