Tractors take to the streets of Paris today on the eve of the start of the Agricultural Fair (Salon de l’agriculture) in a climate, as in other European countries, intense dissatisfaction of the rural world.

The president Emmanuel Macron, who suggests tomorrow, Saturday, a great public debate among the farmersdrew the ire of their unions by inviting an environmental collective, the Soulèvements de la Terre (Revolts of the Earth), before backpedaling in the face of polemics.

The president of the powerful union FNSEA Arnaud Rousseau said today that will not take part in the dialoguelamenting the president’s “particularly cynical” invitation to the collective, which the government until recently wanted to dissolve it, accusing it of radicalism.

As he said, the Soulèvements de la Terre invitation shows how the government “he did not understand the concerns of the farmers at all”.

Faced with angry reactions and mistrust from unions, the Élysée however quickly backtracked, announcing yesterday, Thursday night, that the collective would not be invited after all, “in order to ensure the calmness of the discussions”.

In total a few hundred people, trade unionists, industrialists and heads of environmental organizations or commercial chains they are expected to take part in the debate, as the Elysee announced yesterday.

The president of the Agricultural Fair, Jean-Luc Poulin, told AFP that waits “dynamics” exchanges.

The various announcements by the government and the European Union after the farmers’ movement started it seems that they were not satisfied at all.

Roadblocks and checks at supermarkets: actions resumed on Wednesday after an intervention by Prime Minister Gabriel Atal to improve and simplify the lives of farmers, on pesticides, seasonal workers or wages.

At the national level, the intelligence services find, according to a police source, how the basis of the agricultural world remains “fairly difficult to control, especially in some apartments”.

Two different processions of tractors are marching in Paris today. About 30 tractors gathered in the morning before they started moving towards the center of the capital.

The second will end up in front of the Agricultural Fair at the end of the afternoon.

A celebration

FNSEA admits that the exhibition is held this year “at a highly political moment”. But the organization also wants to the event to remain a “celebration”.

Despite the difficult context, the report did not deviate from tradition: its symbol cow, Oreillet, a five-year-old Normandie, got off the truck that carried her this morning in front of a crowd of journalists, snorted in front of the asphalt of the Porte de Versailles exhibition park and was then led into the hall where she will be presented with great pomp during the nine days of the salon.

“I’m less stressed now that she’s arrived,” said her owner, Mr Francois Foucault.