Angry farmers: LR wants to ban the import of products that do not meet standards

He advocates “strict reciprocity.” LR MP Antoine Vermorel-Marc (Loire) introduced a bill banning the import of agricultural products that do not meet the standards established in France for farmers, he points out in an interview published on Friday on the Figaro website.

“In the name of strict reciprocity, we propose to ban the import of what is prohibited from being produced in France,” states the deputy, denouncing “unfair competition” that represents a “loss of income” for French farmers: “10 billion euros.” – he evaluates.

Antoine Vermorel-Marquez targets “meat raised on animal meal, GMO grains from Ukraine” and “tomatoes from the Maghreb treated with dichloropropene, a potentially carcinogenic substance banned in Europe for 15 years.”

The Law of Egalim that needs to be rethought

The bill received the support of LR leader Eric Ciotti and the LR group in the Assembly Olivier Marlet, he told AFP. According to the deputy of the Republic of Latvia, Article 44 of the Egalim law on the distribution of value between participants in the French food chain is “inoperative.”

It “targets sellers, not importers,” regrets Antoine Vermorel-Marc, who recalls that his party did not vote for the 2018 text and believes that we must “hold the big players accountable (and) impose sanctions that “Egalim does not make the law.” “We have enshrined a strong principle in the law, but have not introduced any sanctions. It is like playing football without a referee,” he adds.

Farmers have been demonstrating for days, denouncing unfair competition from countries that sell their produce in France and are not held to the same standards as them.