FRENCH AGRICULTURAL ELECTIONS REFLECT SOME CHANGES

UNCLAS PARIS 000514 SIPDIS SIPDIS BRUSSELS PASS USEU FOR AGMINCOUNSELOR STATE FOR OES; EUR/ERA ; STATE PASS USTR FOR MURPHY; USDA/OS/JOHANNS/TERPSTRA; USDA/FAS FOR OA/YOST; OCRA/CURTIS ONA/RIEMENSCHNEIDER FAA/YOUNG; EU POSTS PASS TO AGRICULTURE AND ECON GENEVA FOR USTR, ALSO AGRICULTURE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR ETRD EU FR SUBJECT: FRENCH AGRICULTURAL ELECTIONS REFLECT SOME CHANGES ¶1. Summary. French agricultural stakeholders recently held elections to choose their representatives to the Agricultural Chamber of Commerce, an influential organization for French agriculture that works with the Government of France to manage and implement farm policy. Election results showed that the largest farm organization, FNSEA, maintained its majority position. Interestingly, the leftist, anti-biotech group, Confederation Paysanne, once led by anti-globalization leader Jose Bove, lost ground in its number of representatives. The protestor union, Coordination Rurale, politically close to the far right and an opponent of the trade liberalization, won an unexpected number of positions, becoming the second largest farm union in metropolitan France after FNSEA. End summary ¶2. Every six years, French agricultural stakeholders cast their ballots for representatives to their local level Chamber of Agriculture. On January 31, the main farm organization, FNSEA, won 55 percent of the seats to the French Agricultural Chambers of Agriculture (APCA). Control of APCA is important in French agriculture because this organization works with the GOF to manage and implement farm policy. Luc Guyau, currently President of APCA and former president of FNSEA, is expected to keep his post for another six-year term. Guyau has a high international profile, having served as President of COPA, the European Farmer's Organization, and as a participant in high-level events such as the Doha trade round talks. He is a staunch supporter of protectionist measures, such as high domestic and export subsidies, for French farmers. His views on foreign competition and the value of international trade are, however, more conciliatory than those of other farmer groups. ¶4. While polls had forecast a drop for FNSEA, the Union was able to keep its lead, and even regain, some of the chambers lost in the last election in 2001. Election turnout was strong; about 66 percent of eligible voters participated in their local election. These voters consisted of farmers, farm workers, landowners and retired farmers, cooperatives agricultural banks and insurance companies and others working in the farm and food industry. The total number of voters was 2.8 million, down 10 percent from 2001, of which 585,000 were farmers, a decrease of 15 percent from 2001 and reflects the erosion of the French farm community. FNSEA will likely head all but a few of the 94 local chambers of Agriculture. ¶5. The election outcome received wide media coverage. Of particular interest was the fall of support for Confederation Paysanne. Analysts linked it to the far-left political stance of its former spokesperson, and now presidential candidate, Jos Bove and to the destruction of biotech fields and crops by Confederation Paysanne activists in the summer and fall of 2006. The destruction of agricultural property was widely criticized by a majority of farmers. Other analysts linked the rise in support for Coordination Rurale as a protest against the perceived dismemberment of the EU Common Agricultural Policy. Coordination Rurale favors EU protection through higher tariffs and increased sanitary and phytosanitary constraints for imports. It further supports excluding agriculture from WTO negotiations and opposes biotech, not from a policy standpoint, but because the market does not support a need for GMOs. ¶6. Thus, the recent election reinforces FNSEA's position as the strongest farm organization in France and also heralds a potential shift from far left to more moderate leanings in parts of French agriculture. WHITE