PARIS: The French government on Friday called for a Christmas truce with protesting farmers, warning against further blockades during the holiday season, a move the country's main union said depended on the prime minister's response to their demands.
Farmers have been blocking roads, dumping manure and holding demonstrations in France for over a week to protest against the government's management of cattle lumpy skin disease and a trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur.
Farmers gathered with tractors early on Friday in front of President Emmanuel Macron's residence in the seaside resort of Le Touquet in northern France, placing a coffin labelled "RIP Agri" and "NO Mercosur".
Meanwhile, in the southern town of Avignon, farmers threw potatoes at public buildings.
Protesters argue that the government's policy of culling an entire herd when lumpy skin disease is detected is excessive and cruel. They also claim the EU-Mercosur deal, whose signing has been postponed to January, would allow massive imports of products not meeting French standards.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu was holding meetings with the main farm unions. The head of the FNSEA, the country's largest, said Lecornu committed to sending a letter by evening with answers to a range of agricultural issues.
"This letter will be decisive", FNSEA Chairman Arnaud Rousseau told reporters, adding that the union would then make a decision on whether to suspend the protests.
Unions Coordination Rurale and Confederation Paysanne, which had been leading the blockades, said they would let farmers in each region decide whether to continue protests.
"We are very disappointed", Stephane Galais, spokesperson of the Confederation Paysanne, said after meeting Lecornu. "The decision will be taken locally, but I'll tell you this: we can't remove the blockades".
Galais said there had been no progress towards ending total slaughtering as a strategy to contain lumpy skin disease.
Young Farmers union President Pierrick Horel said members would observe a Christmas truce.
Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said on RTL radio that the government would no longer tolerate further blockades and would do "everything necessary" to avoid them.
Meanwhile, EU is hoping to get a trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur officially signed on January 12, diplomatic sources said after plans to seal the pact this week fell through.
More than 25 years in the making, Brussels had initially looked to ink the accord to create the world's biggest free-trade area with Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay on Saturday.
But the plan ran into a late roadblock as heavyweights Italy and France demanded a delay over concerns for the farming sector. — Reuters
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