French farmers lift road blockades around Paris after the prime minister offers a support plan
Associated PressPARIS — French farmers were gradually lifting their roadblocks around Paris and elsewhere in the country on Friday, a day after the French government offered over 400 million euros in various measures meant to answer their grievances over low earnings, heavy regulation and unfair competition from abroad. Arnaud Rousseau, the president of the biggest farmers union, FNSEA, speaking on news broadcaster BFM, said “we now want to work” on the government’s proposals and take “concrete” steps within the next few weeks. On Thursday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, whose earlier promises to address farmers’ issues had failed to quell the French protests, announced a new set of measures. They included hundreds of millions of euros in aid, tax breaks and a promise not to ban pesticides in France that are allowed elsewhere in Europe — which French farmers say leads to unfair competition.