A guest on Bel RTL this morning, MR President Georges-Louis Bouchez was questioned about the current agricultural crisis. For the MR, it is very clear: liberals did not discover these legitimate demands yesterday. For many years now, our various ministers have been working hard and have managed, among other things, to prevent the abolition of professional diesel or certain pesticides, all in favour of farmers.
Message of support
“In the current crisis facing farmers, we stand in full support, with understanding and empathy. Liberals did not discover this issue yesterday. Our ministers Willy Borsus and David Clarinval have been working for many years to improve their conditions. With David Clarinval, for example, we prevented the abolition of professional diesel, among other things. Our ministers are raising the alarm about these realities!”
Concrete measures
“We need fair prices, and to achieve that, we need transparency in price negotiations, a legislative freeze, and an end to piling regulation upon regulation. At the MR, we advocate for an agrideal, meaning legislative stability for 5 to 10 years. We also need to ask ourselves the question of a fair price. The entire chain is under enormous pressure, and farmers pay the highest price because they are last in that chain.
We need a real societal debate on the fair price in our consumption. Taxation must also be reviewed to bring prices down. Labour costs are too high, energy prices are higher than elsewhere; if we work on this, we would already have a real impact.
We must stop spending so much public money; all the extra burdens imposed by the left on those who work are paid for by those same workers, and farmers are the first to be affected.”
The ecological paradox
“In Europe, the ‘Green Deal’ and ‘farm to fork’ mean 10% more for consumers on the total price and 15% less production. At the MR, we want to save the climate while maintaining Europe's food sovereignty.
We must trust farmers, they feed us. There is real bad faith from the Greens! Zakia Khattabi distributed a form in schools, with Caroline Désir's blessing, asking pupils to calculate the deforestation caused by eating 1 kilo of meat. Farmers nourish the earth. The Greens are already teaching children to be against farmers.”
Watch the interview again