French president Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday announced a €650m aid plan for the country’s embattled farmers, along with €1bn in cheap loans.
“I will not let French agriculture be swept away by the crisis,” he declared. The plan will reportedly be rolled out by the end of this year.
Mr Sarkozy described it as “unacceptable” that prices paid to farmers have fallen by 20 per cent in the past year while prices paid by consumers have dropped by just 1 per cent. “This gap is putting our food production in danger,” he said.
Interest rates on the new loans will reportedly stand at 1.5 per cent, or just 1 per cent for young farmers. According to Mr Sarkozy, this will enable farmers to manage their finances and invest for the future.
The president also called on the European Commission to limit market speculation on agricultural prices and to bring derivative financial products under control.
However, the main farming union, the FNSEA, warned that a short-term aid programme was no substitute for the regulation of retail food prices.
