This Thursday, September 24, rallies were organized in front of the island's prefectures at the call of representatives of the Corsican agricultural world. Blocked for a time, access to the ports of Ajaccio and Bastia was reopened in the evening. The unions have obtained a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture in the middle of next week.
This Thursday, rallies were organized in front of the island's prefectures to denounce "the lack of support" from the State in the face of the difficulties encountered by farmers.
After a five-hour meeting with the prefect of Corsica, union representatives from the agricultural world obtained a new meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture next Wednesday. At the end, the lifting of the blockades was announced.
The assurance of a meeting with the minister in question
However, this Thursday evening, the ports of Bastia and Ajaccio remained blocked until 9:30 p.m. Traffic was very complicated in the center of the two cities. According to our information, the demonstrators wanted to obtain guarantees on the presence of the Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard, during the meeting scheduled for next Wednesday.
However, at the end of the meeting at the prefecture at the end of the afternoon, the president of the Chamber of Agriculture, Jean-Baptiste Arena, said he wanted to "give the discussion a chance": "we could have stayed this evening, reblocked on Monday. I say that, until Wednesday, we must leave room for discussion. After Wednesday, if we are disappointed, we can resume actions."
The five hours of discussion in a tense atmosphere somewhat fractured union unity. The FDSEA, the young farmers and the rural coordination not being satisfied with the result, certain trade unionists decided to stay in the premises of the Bastia prefecture and the blockades of the ports therefore continued until the beginning of the evening.
The prefecture recalls the aid put in place
At this stage, and at the end of the discussions, the prefecture indicates for its part in a press release that a "delegation of representatives of Corsican farmers will be received on September 30 by the office of the Minister of Agriculture, in the presence of the directors of the central administrations concerned and the services and payment agency (ASP)".
Still in its press release, the prefecture says it recalled during the meeting the establishment of an "emergency plan to deal with the drought", as well as various measures: the creation of an agricultural compensation system worth 250 million euros, or even an agricultural rearmament fund. “The files can be submitted tomorrow with the objective of making a large number of payments by December 1,” state services assure.
The prefecture promises that the upcoming ministerial meeting will be “an opportunity to continue the dialogue on the economic and structural issues of Corsican agriculture”.
Hundreds of demonstrators
According to the Corsica prefecture, 150 people, including around fifty young people, demonstrated this Thursday in Ajaccio and 200 in Bastia, where pallets and tires were set on fire in front of the entrance to the building. Rallies also took place in front of the sub-prefectures of Calvi and Sartène.
Earlier in the morning, mobilizations took place in several schools on the island. Thus, the Baleone college, the Sartène agricultural high school, that of Borgo, the Fesch high school and the Jules-Antonini LEP in Ajaccio were notably blocked. In total, eight establishments were affected.
Update at the end of the day with Sylvie Wolinsky and our teams:
“Treatment tailored to the situation”
This mobilization had been planned for several days. As a reminder, on September 21, in Corte, representatives of the Chamber of Agriculture and the unions Coordination Rurale, FDSEA, JA, Mossa Paisana and Via Campagnola denounced "with one voice the treatment reserved for island agriculture".
While the island is going through the hottest summer in its history, after several years of successive droughts and with a water deficit established since May which is still continuing, they announced that they were demanding "treatment commensurate with the situation".
Representatives of the island agricultural world are calling in particular for the adaptation of the exceptional agricultural support plan, called CASI (for Climate, Adaptation, Drought, Fires), to the specificities of Corsica.
Demands that they will perhaps be able to present to the Minister of Agriculture next Wednesday.
