00:00Or we can speak to Jean-Luc Demartier.
00:02He's a former director general for the external trade at the European Commission.
00:06Hello to you and thank you for speaking to Paris Direct.
00:10We just heard in that report that farmers are clearly still very angry.
00:15Now, President Emmanuel Macron has promised a series of measures to try to ease the pressure on these farmers.
00:21Do you think he's doing enough?
00:27First, President, I'm also a former director general for agriculture, so I know a bit about agriculture too.
00:35No, certainly President Macron and the French government is not doing enough.
00:41The French minister, Annie Genva, is doing her best, but unfortunately she's not always followed.
00:50And the reason of the disaster of the agriculture sector in France today is 15 years of failure in the
01:01French agriculture policy, national agriculture policy, not the CAP.
01:06Even if the CAP is evolving badly, I would say, since 2021 and the Green Deal package.
01:17But the main reason of the difficulties of the agriculture in France, of the farmers, are the French agricultural policy
01:28and the economic policy too.
01:30And the agri-food sector is also suffering.
01:33Yeah, and so just to be clear here, what you're saying about that French policy, then this is a uniquely
01:37French problem, if you can contrast it with situations like in neighboring Germany or elsewhere in the EU?
01:44I will give you some figures.
01:46First, in terms of farm income, between 2010 and 2024, the French average income, real income, it means taking into
02:00account inflation, has increased by only 15%.
02:03And the average in the EU, the 27 member states, is 77%, 70, not 17%.
02:13So 70% of increase during the same period.
02:15And it's not only the rattrapage by the central and eastern countries.
02:22When you look at the figures, when you look at the figures, Italy is 170% increase, Spain is 79
02:30% increase, Germany is 49% increase.
02:33So it shows the failure of the French policy.
02:36And when you look at the French trade balance, agri-food balance, which has been decreasing dramatically in 2025, the
02:48main reason is the degradation of the balance within the EU with the other member states.
02:58France was at the positive trade surplus in agri-food with the rest of the rest of the EU 15
03:08years ago by around 5 billion.
03:11And now it has a deficit with the other member states of 4 to 5 billion.
03:16So it has lost in 15 years.
03:18It has lost 10 billion with the rest of the EU.
03:21So it's a sign of a lack of competitiveness within the EU.
03:25And the explanation can only be the French, the French agriculture policy.
03:30It's an evidence.
03:31In regards to production and in regards to competitiveness, a lot of concerns because this is also the first Paris
03:37Farm Fair since the EU signed that massive trade deal with South America, which is expected to go into effect
03:45as soon as next month.
03:47How do you think that trade deal, that Mercosur Trade Agreement, will affect things for farmers here in France?
03:54There is also a legend which is propagated by some farm unions and also by the French government that the
04:02free trade agreements has been bad for the agriculture sector, the agri-food sector in Europe.
04:09It's totally wrong.
04:10When you look at the figures, the trade surplus in agri-food in the EU has increased from 10 billion
04:19euros 15 years ago to 70 billion, so 60 billion more in 15 years until 2023.
04:30It has increased slightly in 2024, 2025 because of the dramatic increase of the prices of coffee and cacao.
04:43And it's the same in France.
04:45So there's been an increase of the surplus, except for the last two years, with the third countries and the
04:51dramatic degradation within the rest of Europe, which is playing.
04:55And as long as the Mercosur Agreement is concerned, there has been a lot of analysis about that.
05:04The sensitive sectors in agriculture, like beef, poultry and sugar, have been well protected, very limited access for Mercosur, only
05:151.5 percent of our domestic consumption.
05:18And so the effect will be negligible for these sectors, and globally there will be some gains on wine and
05:26spirits and dairy, and also a lot of gains for industry and for services.
05:35So globally, the gains are between 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent of GDP for Europe.
05:40It means between 40 billion and 80 billion euros.
05:44So it's totally a legend that Mercosur will have a negative effect on agriculture.
05:53But it's very comfortable for the French politicians from right and left, because it hides their dramatic responsibility in the
06:04failure of the French agriculture policy for the last 15 years.
06:09Yeah. And now you have a state of political tension here in France with what happened between the far right
06:19and the far left.
06:20That's our next story. We'll be getting to that in a moment.
06:21But also, you have President Emmanuel Macron.
06:25You have presidential elections next month.
06:27And you seem to level a fair amount of criticism towards his administration for these policies.
06:33France is the EU's agricultural powerhouse.
06:36The farmer unions are very visible here in the country.
06:39So why would his government be doing things to upset such a visible voting bloc?
06:48The question is not—I'm not sure you have understood what I've said.
06:52Because what I'm saying is that the farmers are right to complain.
06:57Because the French agriculture policy is a disaster.
07:00What is urgent is to reform the French agriculture policy.
07:05It's a key element, and it has been changed a lot, a lot, a lot.
07:09And the next presidential elections in France in 2027 is an opportunity to do that.
07:16So that's not the question.
07:20So the question is not the FTA, the free trade agreement, and the Mercosur.
07:26Mercosur is a scapegoat.
07:28And when Mercosur will be ratified, I hope it will be ratified, we'll see.
07:32There will be no negative effect.
07:33It will be on the contrary.
07:34We have seen that with Canada.
07:36With Canada, the same people were saying that the agreement with Canada, the CETA, 10 years ago, will be dramatic.
07:41And the French surplus in agri-food with Canada has tripled from 200 million euros to 600 million euros in
07:51eight years.
07:52So all that is not—so that's the fact and the reality.
07:58So I am—personally, I am behind the farmers.
08:01And they are right to complain.
08:04They are not right to complain about the free trade agreement, because I think they are intelligent people, but they
08:09are not well-briefed about the situation.
08:11And because they are in a very difficult situation, there is a tendency to take everything as responsible for the
08:20situation.
08:21Whereas the key responsibility is the French agri-policy.
08:25And frankly, the FNSOR and the Coordination Rural knows that very well.
08:31Jean-Luc, thank you so much for your time, for breaking that down for us.
08:34Jean-Luc Demarty speaking to us.
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