Speeches

Mr President, some of our compatriots are the forgotten of social Europe. I am thinking in particular of those who make us live, in our countryside, that is to say, especially young people: Younger generations no longer want to take over family farms for lack of prospects. How can we blame them when we see the crushing burdens, the infernal bureaucracy and the incomes that no longer even allow us to live decently? Europe must stop encouraging this destructive model. We need to ensure fair remuneration for young farmers and simplify access to support to encourage settlement. We need to upgrade the role of young women, which is essential. We must revitalize our territories by developing infrastructure, public services and digital technology in order to reduce rural exodus. Our villages should no longer be deserts, but places of the future where it is possible to work and start a family. Social Europe must be the one that protects and gives hope in our countryside. I would like to conclude by supporting Marine Le Pen, the victim this week of a purely political conviction. The people of Europe deserve a voice that defends them. You won't shut us up.

Madam President, in the face of the economic and geopolitical challenges threatening our continent, the European Commission has found a disconcerting answer: a survival kit to last 72 hours in the event of a crisis. Rather than put an end to the Green Deal, which strangles our farmers, Brussels prefers to maintain a climate of fear. Instead of strengthening our economy and sovereignty, it infantilizes citizens with recommendations worthy of a Hollywood scenario. War is not a game. Jordan Bardella recalled: we want a Europe of peace, security and sovereignty. Yet Brussels is working hard to weaken our nations to impose its federalism. Our farmers, suffocated by absurd economic standards, and our businesses, subject to unfair competition, are now in survival mode. A real survival kit is a strong economy, a competitive industry and protected borders. I also wanted to give my full support to Marine Le Pen, shamefully condemned for political reasons. It is a sad day for democracy, but it is only a matter of time before we come to power to give the people of Europe the voice they deserve.

Mr President, Commissioner, once again the European Commission is presenting a vision for the future of agriculture that does not meet the expectations of European farmers. Farmers want to live off their work, thanks to a decent income; But most of your proposals focus on aid and diversification of activities, without offering them any guarantee. Farmers want less bureaucracy; you prefer to multiply environmental standards and administrative obligations. Farmers want a strong and sovereign sector; We see that you remain subject to the dogma of free trade and globalisation, which is harmful to our agriculture. As for your response to the need to attract young people and women, it boils down to the establishment of plans, platforms and observatories, in short, a gas plant. It is not with thirty-page documents that the plates are filled. When are you going to come out of empty promises and come up with something concrete? Commissioner, the future of agriculture in the coming years seems bleak to me.

Madam President, this free trade agreement between the European Union and South America is in fact a threat to our agriculture, our environment and our economic sovereignty. This agreement puts our farmers in direct competition with products whose environmental and health standards are much less strict. You are sacrificing our European sectors, already in crisis, to sell your German cars. Mercosur promotes an economic model based on intensive export and destruction of ecosystems. It weakens our sovereignty by flooding our markets with low-cost products, it destroys local sectors and weakens our producers to the benefit of multinationals. The agreement with Mercosur is not progress, it is economic and environmental regression. It is urgent to reject it and to defend a fair, sustainable and local agriculture. Be aware that a farmer commits suicide every two days in France. I believe that, by signing this agreement, the Commissioners,me von der Leyen and the deputies who sign it will be the last nail that closes their coffin. (The speaker refused blue card questions from Marie-Pierre Vedrenne and Manon Aubry.)

Mr President, with an ageing population and a society waiting for quality care, the health sector should be a priority. However, in France, it is estimated that there is a shortage of about 22,000 professionals in hospitals, all professions combined. In the liberal sector, offices close in turns and 30% of the population now lives in a medical desert. As for the personal care sector, there are nearly 25,000 vacancies that are still difficult to fill. A few years ago, in the midst of the COVID crisis, these jobs were essential. Medical staff were promised upgrades, support and salary increases. Five years later, what remains of your good promises? Nothing. These professions of care, however critical, remain poorly considered, underpaid and with untenable schedules. It is time for this to change; however, the answer must not come from our disconnected Europe, which does not even have competence in health matters, but from our nations. You can count on us to finally remedy this situation.

Mr President, a new scandal is splattering the European institutions. The European Commission has funded so-called environmental NGOs to lobby for the Green Deal. This green deal, symbol of punitive ecology, wants to impose more standards, restrict farmers and businesses and ban thermal engines in 2035. Millions of euros of public money have been used through the LIFE programme and distributed to lobbies. Objective: influencing decisions of the European Parliament and MEPs, manipulating debates and toughening green legislation. The Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Hansen, embodies this drift. In charge of preparing a vision on agriculture and food, he consults Greenpeace, WWF, BirdLife. But where are the farmers? Who listens to those who feed us? While these groups dictate agricultural policy, the real actors on the ground are despised, ignored. Europe does not have to be governed by lobbies who produce nothing, but who want to control everything. Friends of Mme Von Der Leyen, who have never sown a grain of wheat or produced a litre of milk, do not have to impose their utopia on us. This scandal is reminiscent of other cases, such as Qatargate or the troubled funding of Islamist associations close to the Muslim Brotherhood. Stop, Brussels must be held accountable! The EPPO and the anti-fraud authorities must shed full light on these cases. We won't let go of anything.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, animal welfare is now one of our concerns, and that is a good thing. We all have in mind these animals raised in disastrous, sick and abused conditions. It is therefore commendable to want to put an end to the abuses. However, let me express some scepticism, because, you see, I am not sure that appointing an animal welfare commissioner or reopening old pending texts is the best solution, if there is not behind a real political will to improve things and a real targeting of the wrongdoers. The reality is that the European Commission does not care about animal welfare and that this is something it does not understand. Moreover, when it comes to signing free trade agreements with countries with little regard for the treatment of animals, the question of well-being no longer arises. You even push cynicism to the point of explaining that we must continue to export live animals to the Middle East so that they can be ritually slaughtered there. Like what, your interest in animal welfare is very variable geometry! Contrary to what you seem to believe, breeders are not your enemies. Breeding is a difficult profession that pays little. We do not start breeding without a passion and love for animals. And I can assure you that no one, from the breeder to the consumer to the carrier, has an interest in the animal suffering. Stop wanting to oppose animal welfare and animal husbandry, as if the two are incompatible. Get out of your ivory tower and meet those who feed us. Whether it is the transport of animals, the end of cages, experimentation or fur, nothing will be done without involving all actors in the sector. Your punitive criteria are useless if you do not cooperate with all agricultural sectors. The ball is in your court!

Mr President, Commissioner, in France, a farmer commits suicide every two days or so. This statistic is a clear representation of their unhappiness. Contrary to what you imply, working conditions are not the main cause of this discomfort. You who have never seen a farm in your life, know that new tools and technologies help, but they have their limits. A new tractor won't guarantee you a decent income at the end of the month. Artificial intelligence will not remove tons of low-quality products you import from abroad. A wind turbine in the field will not reduce the administrative burden. Their demands have been clear for years; You simply refuse to hear them. All your so-called solutions will only make things worse. Ladies and gentlemen of the Commission, you have betrayed farmers enough. Leave them alone at last.

Mr President, the masks are falling. As the EU-Mercosur agreement continues to move forward, it is clear that some who claim to defend our farmers are actually acting against their interests. Here in the European Parliament, a crucial debate on Mercosur proposed by the National Rally has been blocked by a surprising alliance between macroists, socialists, and even the EPP of François-Xavier Bellamy, a group that claims to defend agriculture. What then is the value of the words of those who, in Paris, denounce Mercosur, but who, in Brussels, prevent this debate? They're hypocrites. This treaty, designed to satisfy German industrial interests, is an immense betrayal. And who supported the President of the European Commission? François-Xavier Bellamy and his allies, who voted for the von der Leyen Commission on November 27, gave him the mandate to advance Mercosur. In the face of this charade, there is only one voice standing up for our farmers: the National Gathering. We voted against von der Leyen, against his Commission, and we will vote against the adoption of Mercosur. Let us not be fooled by misleading speeches. The hour of truth has arrived. The National Rally will lead this fight to the end.

Mr President, the Budapest declaration you are presenting today is a signal for the European Union, which it must listen to sincerely. I quote you: "We need a competitive, sustainable and resilient agricultural sector, with a stable and predictable framework and fair competition on a global scale and in the internal market." We have heard these words before. We must now move on to concrete actions. Our agriculture does need to be competitive, sustainable and resilient. However, the texts proposed by Brussels prove that you are incapable of valuing the efforts of farmers. You have no intention of guaranteeing them a decent income, because you prefer to keep them hostage via aid infusions. And what about this predictable and stable framework that we so badly need? This Chamber sets a new standard at each plenary session, while being surprised that the sector cannot keep up. As for competition, I think the cries we heard yesterday in Parliament are clear. The ideology of free trade will simply kill our agriculture. The European Commission voluntarily wants to bring low-quality products into our market by making fun of the health and economic consequences. How many more demonstrations will it take for you to understand? Take this statement for what it is: A call to awaken and defend our sovereignty.

Mr President, with the agreement of Mercosur, the European Union is ready to definitively bury our farmers and our food sovereignty. 99,000 tons of beef, 180,000 tons of chicken and 1 million tons of corn produced with banned pesticides and dangerous antibiotics will land on our plates. This is a direct threat to the health of consumers. Meanwhile, French farmers, crushed by ever more stringent standards from Brussels, are disappearing. One in two chickens eaten in France is already imported. Making our markets more open to this unfair competition jeopardizes our territories and our agricultural model. Today, nearly one in three farmers lives below the poverty line. These women and men, who feed us, deserve support more than ever. Farmers do not want to depend on aid: They just want to live with dignity from their work. With Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen, we are the only ones to say no to this disastrous Mercosur treaty and to this technocratic Europe that sacrifices our peasants. So it will be no to Mercosur!

Madam President, Commissioner, epidemics have become such an important issue that I am surprised that the other groups in this Parliament have not seen any other demand emerge for a real debate on the subject. You are talking today about preventing these crises, and that is good. Yet, at the same time, veterinarians are disappearing in Europe, especially in rural areas, especially for farm animals. And even when farmers are lucky enough to have a veterinarian available, the price of medicines has soared that the question of letting the animal die unfortunately arises. Hence my question: If Europe is not able to produce the veterinary medicines and vaccines it needs at affordable prices, if it no longer has veterinarians to prescribe and administer them, how do you hope to prevent the spread of future epidemics?

Mr President, the cognac sector is going through a major crisis because of the trade tensions between the European Union and China. In response to the tariffs you have decided on car imports, China has introduced taxes of up to 35% on cognac. This decision has already cost producers hundreds of millions of euros, and the bill continues to rise. This crisis demonstrates your inability to protect our strategic sectors in globalization. In 2024, during his visit to France, the Chinese president assured Emmanuel Macron that French cognac would not be affected, but his promises proved futile. Where is President Macron today? What is its influence on the international scene? He is powerless to defend the interests of France and its producers. This is a sign of the failure of your Europeanist model. In 2023, Germany had a trade surplus of €223 million while farm incomes fell by 10%. Where is the balance and solidarity that you constantly advocate? They're just illusions. France must regain its agricultural sovereignty. It is unacceptable to be hostage to Brussels or Berlin. The defense of France and its agricultural know-how is our priority.

Mr President, when we hear about counterfeits, we do not immediately think about food. However, in 2023 alone, 1 150 000 counterfeit food products were seized in France. Yoghurt, pasta, cheese, but also wine, cognac, oysters and baby pots: Everything goes through it. These products are made to look like the originals, but they do not meet our standards and can cause risks to our health. Worse: these counterfeits are often 20% to 70% cheaper than the originals. Many consumers buy them, expecting to benefit from attractive offers on destocking lots. This situation is both dangerous and intolerable. It means that our farmers and processors are not only competing with foreign countries that flood our market with irresponsible free trade agreements, they are also competing with these frauds, which tarnish the image of the sectors and convey a negative image of the products. After last year’s protests, you said you heard the anger of the farming community. You claim to want to restore the reputation of farmers and defend European sectors: Here is a good opportunity to do so. Track down these products, check the entry of goods that are of poor quality or do not meet our standards and give the consumer confidence that by buying European products they will buy quality. The anger of the farmers is still there. Now it's up to you to prove that you can really act.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I too would like to express my full support for those colleagues whose countries are currently affected by the terrible weather. These extreme weather events are unfortunately becoming more frequent, and their human and material costs are catastrophic. It is estimated that they represent between 50 and 60 billion euros each year. What is said little is that the consequences of these events could have been avoided if we had properly maintained our human and material heritage. How many bridges collapse during floods? How many hectares are burning because emergency roads are no longer accessible? How many hectares of crops die because we can no longer irrigate? These billions spent on managing the consequences and compensating the victims could be invested in water reservoirs, in the maintenance of bridges, sewers and roads - these common sense steps that our farmers have - but we still need the political will and we do not have it. It is true that in your eyes, it is sexier to propose the end of the combustion engine for 2035 rather than a large maintenance plan for agricultural dykes. However, one of the two proposals is less costly and more useful. It's time to wake up and take action.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this evening I would like to draw your attention to an epidemic currently affecting livestock in Europe. Bluetongue, BTV or blue tongue disease, does not affect humans but decimates herds. Present on European soil since November 2023, it has been on the rise since this summer in many countries, including France. A vaccine against this disease exists, but by the very admission of the French Minister of Agriculture, stocks are lacking. And for good reason: two strains of this disease circulate in the European Union and only two laboratories produce vaccines for the whole of Europe. The consequences are dramatic. Some herders have lost nearly 40% of their herd and it will take years for the industry to recover. To support the farmers most affected, Member States will have to put in place aid. It is therefore important for the European Union to give them this flexibility. Since the European Union dreams of being a protector, it is important that it honours its promises to farmers. We therefore hope that emergency aid budgets can be activated to support the sector. Our food sovereignty and the survival of our farms depend on it.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, this week a group of experts presented a report to Mrs von der Leyen for a greater ecological transition aimed at transforming our agriculture and our eating habits. One of the goals of this worrying program is to reduce our consumption of meat, with these experts claiming that it is bad for health and the environment. This report promotes vegetable proteins and proposes to impose vegetarian meals in schools, accompanied by propaganda classes. This report overlooks a major fact: For many, eating less meat is a matter of purchasing power, not a conversion to ecological dogma. Families are reducing their meat consumption because they can no longer afford it. This discrepancy shows how disconnected the Brussels elites are from the economic reality of our citizens. As for the herders, they will be the first victims of this forced transition. By aiming for farming without livestock or reduced to a minimum, the European Union is threatening thousands of farms, which are essential for the rural economy, landscape management and biodiversity. These standards will push small-scale farmers to abandon and encourage the import of foreign meat produced under questionable environmental and health conditions. This aberration will increase our dependence on poor quality products. This is the will of the Brussels bureaucrats who negotiate free trade agreements...