Dijon Tractor Protest: Farmers Oppose Mercosur Deal

Started the day before, the regional action of farmers continues in Dijon (Côte-d’Or) this Thursday, January 15. With their tractors, they will join several administrations, making traffic and travel by public transport very difficult in these sectors.

Farmers are not taking offense against the free trade treaty between the European Union and the South American Mercosur countries, the signing of which is scheduled for January 17 in Paraguay.

France failed to prevent its adoption by the EU. At the call of the FDSEA and Young Farmers, farmers are launching into this (last chance?) battle. They also denounce the regulatory inflation which would weigh on their profession.

From 10:20 a.m., the procession of around fifty tractors formed in the Toison d’Or district, on the roundabout which overlooks the LiNo. The same demands adorn agricultural machinery, such as “top standards, back to flop”, as during the action the previous evening during which farmers organized a funeral march in tribute to French agriculture.

“Today, we say that if we are able to import meat from abroad which does not meet any French production standards, we must then stop all the aberrant controls on us. We lack chickens, we import them and we cannot set up a henhouse in France (…) without there being an association that bothers us. We are short of sheep, we import them from New Zealand and we let a wolf kill ours. That’s enough!“, says Thomas Lemée, president of the Young Farmers BFC.

The procession now moves to “tour” different administrative buildings, representatives of the State in the territory.

Since 11:15 a.m., the demonstrators, now numbering 70 tractors, have been heading towards the French Biodiversity Office, located rue de Mulhouse. Then, they will go to DREAL boulevard Voltaire and to DRAAF, rue Hoche. According to them, these places symbolize “regulatory pressure” which strangles them.

“In 2024, there was a huge national and European mobilization. There were outlines of laws, notably the Duplomb law which was swept aside. Today, we’re fed up. We no longer want to hear words, promises. We want concrete things on our farms“, insists Antoine Carré, president of the FDSEA of Côte-d’Or.

At the beginning of the afternoon, they will park their tractors in front of the Maison de l’Europe and the Regional Council, boulevard de la Trémouille. This local authority is responsible for implementing the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

The event should culminate at the Prefecture around 4 p.m.