French agriculture minister Bruno Le Maire has promised emergency aid to the tune of “several millions of euros” for the country’s ailing fresh produce sector.
The announcement goes some way to placating angry growers who have waged a campaign against “cheap foreign imports” in recent weeks, which has included overturning trucks and storming a Spanish consulate.
Le Maire unveiled plans during a visit to a fruit co-operative in the peach producing Pyrénées-Orientales area in the south of the country on Tuesday.
“Thousands of producers in France are on the brink of going bust and they need immediate help to get through what is a calamitous period,” he said.
Growers are also set to obtain some relief with their statutory business costs while banks will also be urged to take a more flexible line over the scheduling of loan repayments in the wake of the E. coli crisis.
Le Maire also promised tougher sanctions against fraud in the sector and in particular, the practice of some wholesalers of obtaining supplies illegally in order to sell fruit and vegetables at lower prices. The French authorities are also intensifying action to track down trucks transporting shipments without a purchase order.
The precise details of the aid will be presented on 7 September when Le Maire announces a strategic plan in favour of the sector and which is likely to make provision for structural changes.
Tension has mounted between France and Spain in recent weeks with French farmers intercepting Spanish trucks at motorway tollgates in the south and emptying trailers of nectarines, peaches and pears onto the road.
The latest episode in the protest campaign came last weekend and saw farmers force the gate of Spain’s consulate in Perpignan and dump 500kg of peaches outside the building, in protest against “cheap” Spanish imports.
Earlier, farmers had raided a supermarket in Nîmes and encouraged customers to take away discount Italian grapes free of charge. Unions continue to blame retailers for the current crisis, claiming they “blackmail” producers into selling below cost price.
Le Maire and his Spanish counterpart Rosa Aguilar are due to discuss new proposals to regulate European markets in Paris next month.
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