French Farmers to Resume Strikes Unless Government Adopts New Support Measures

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - French farmers' protests, which are gradually eroding confidence in the European Union, will resume if the country's authorities do not take additional support measures, the head of the FNSEA farmers' union, Arnaud Rousseau, said on Tuesday.

"We want additional measures ... If we don't see any change within 10 days, we are ready to resume the strikes," Russo said on air of French broadcaster TF1.

He added that since the government announced the agrarian changes, little has been done to implement them and the farmers are not happy. As a result, farmers have already returned to strikes in some departments of the country.

Meanwhile, commenting on a recent Elabe poll, Florian Philippot, the leader of The Patriots party, said that the farmers' strike had "opened the eyes of a large number of French people."

According to the recent poll, more than a third of the French (36%) believe that membership in the EU brings France more problems than benefits. Moreover, among supporters of the National Union Party, the number of those who are skeptical about France's membership in the bloc reaches 60%.

In France, farmer protests have gained momentum in recent weeks. Protesters have blocked key highways, cut down traffic with tractors and haystacks. Farmers also pelted prefectures and administration buildings with manure and waste. They denounced the government's agricultural policies, which they felt were making them non-competitive. In particular, the farmers opposed the importation of agricultural products, restrictions on the use of water for irrigation, the rising cost of diesel fuel, as well as restrictive environmental protection measures and the increasing financial burden on production.