The three candidates have made their proposals to preserve farmers with strong price increases, including cereals and energies, that the conflict may cause.
Le Monde with AFP
Visit to the Fair of Agriculture, Monday, February 28, Anne Hidalgo, Fabien Roussel and Valérie Pécresse rival proposals to preserve the main economic difficulties to expect from the war in Ukraine.
The Communist candidate, Mr. Roussel, asked “solemnly” a “national conference” on the grain sector, to ensure “price safety”. “There are big concerns from farmers because they are today under the threat of a sharp rise in prices and energy and cereals, and so it will redee the cost of farms, from The production of milk, the production of daily food products: pasta, bread, cakes, “he explained in front of the press.
Half of the corn imported into Europe traditionally comes from Ukraine. According to the France-Presse agency, the prices of this cereal continued to fly on the European market, while the Ukrainian ports are blocked and the sea of Azov still closed to navigation. At mid-day, the ton of corn increased by 31.75 euros, and reached 321 euros. Wheat climbed in a lower proportion of 21.25 euros, to rise to 311.25 euros per tonne.
“We are the first exporting country in the European Wheat Union, so we have the means to ensure food security and to guarantee prizes,” the Communist Party candidate insisted. He denounced “the scandal” of “agricultural raw materials such as wheat or corn [who] become financial assets on which banks, investment funds make the choice of speculating”.
a question of “sovereignty” for Pécresse
For his part, the candidate of the right Valérie Pécresse (the Republicans, LR) proposed to set up a “shield” within the European Union (EU) to “protect” the farmers of the soaring risk prices. According to her, this crisis “will redeemed both the gas and a number of essential products for our farmers.”
Faced with the “dependence” of the EU vis-à-vis “a number of large countries for our supplies”, “the question posed by this crisis is that of our European sovereignty,” Abounded the LR candidate at a press point, calling for “taking action” quickly “to ensure the agricultural independence of Europe, nourish his people”. For her, “we must tell our young farmers that agriculture has a future, guarantee their income, lower standards, charges” to have “agriculture that radiates”.
Finally, the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo called for the blocking of energy prices for individuals and farmers, and to organize “a European discussion” to avoid possible shortages related to the consequences of the conflict, particularly with regard to relates to livestock. She recalled as a long time asked, well before the Ukrainian crisis, to “play on VAT to contain the prices of gas, energy and electricity”.