French farmers block lorries from Germany and Spain, The Telegraph.

French farmers block lorries from Germany and Spain

Up to 300 trucks carrying produce destined for the French market have been turned back by protesters angry at falling food prices in France

French farmers block trucks at the French German border in Strasbourg Photo: ALAMY

French farmers have set up roadblocks on the German and Spanish borders to stop lorries carrying foodstuff from entering the country in their latest protest against falling food prices.

Up to 300 trucks carrying produce destined for the French market have been turned back in the Alsace region in the northeast since the blocks were set up on Sunday evening, said Franck Sander, president of the local branch of the powerful FNSEA farmers’ union.

^{French farmers check the load of a lorry at the border in Strasbourg (REUTERS)}

“For example we made a truck carrying Babybel turn back. Consumers think it is French but this cheese came from Slovakia,” he said.

The protesters used tractors to block six routes from Germany in their bid to stop trucks carrying agricultural goods crossing the Rhine. Other vehicles were allowed to pass.

^{French farmers block the Rhine bridge in Strasbourg (ALAMY)}
On the Spanish border about 100 farmers on Sunday evening used 10 tractors to block the A645 motorway, causing traffic jams that stretched several kilometres.
The protesters said they would decide on whether to continue their blockades after meeting with officials later on Monday.

In western France, 400 tractors were en route to the A81 motorway to block the road that leads from Paris to Rennes in Brittany, while in the southwest framers burst into a supermarket and seized 300 kilos of meat which they then gave to charity organisations.
The latest protests came after a week that saw farmers block tourist sites, seal off the ferry port of Caen in Normandy and France’s second city, Lyon, dump manure outside public buildings and prevent deliveries to supermarkets.
The beef, pork and dairy farmers behind the protests say that low prices caused by cheap imports and pressure from supermarket chains have put about 10 per cent of livestock farms on the verge of bankruptcy.
The French government, which under EU rules cannot provide direct financial aid to the sector, last week offered a €600 million (£430 million) scheme to back loans and delay tax payments for farmers, along with a plan to raise the price of milk by a few centimes a litre.

But farmers say this is not enough to resolve the crisis.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Xavier Beulin, leader of the FNSEA, told the Telegraph.
He said however that broader reforms by the Socialist government were needed to help wean farmers off subsidies, complaining that farm labour costs were more than 30 per higher in France than in Germany, largely because of social security contributions and over-regulation.
President François Hollande, who this summer has also had to deal with street protests by ferry workers, taxi drivers and tobacconists, said on Monday that farmers should know “we are by their side.”
“We must act. Our agriculture minister has taken steps to ensure that we can exert the necessary pressure on distributors, (food) processors, and abattoirs,” he said.
On Friday the Spanish government condemned a spate of attacks on Spanish lorries transporting pork products through France. The foreign ministry said this was an assault on the principle of free circulation of people and goods.
<sup>Farmers burn tyres in front of a Lactalis Group dairy factory in Laval (AFP)

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