I didn’t want to let it go by without comment. It’s received very, very little comment in the American Blogosphere but last week the Salon d’Agriculture, a farming exhibition analogous to a nation-wide state or county fair took place outside Paris at the Porte de Versailles. The Salon is a ten day long celebration of the French countryside, the diversity of French agricultural products, and (most important to me) the political influence of French farmers. The official site of the Salon d’Agriculture is here. For a loving description of the fair see here.
There are fewer French farmers today than ever before but they wield enormous political influence. The upper house of the French legislature, their Senate, provides representation to rural communities disproportionate to their population and, consequently, political power. This is not lost on the French politicians seeking France’s presidency and they visit the Salon with much fanfare to bolster their credentials as supporters of French agriculture. From France Profonde:
Back briefly to the Salon d’Agriculture – where yesterday three candidates, led by the rings in their noses, were paraded in front of the placidly on-looking beasts. There was a moment of near-panic when one contender, Bayrou, hesitated, nostrils flaring, as he got wind of one of his rivals, Philippe De Villiers. How in that multitude of different and pungent smells Bayrou scented De Villiers and sensed he wanted to have a sniff of him is one of those mysteries of animal communication which we mere humans will never understand, but after a brief pawing of the ground, Bayrou turned and, tail-up, galloped away pulling his handlers after him. After that, when the mighty bull, Jean-Marie Le Pen, turned up, the organisers made sure that none of the other prize beasts come anywhere close – not difficult since the Salon is enormous, filling 8 huge exhibition halls. In 8 hours you have not seen it all.
In the three weeks since I wrote that François Bayrou had bravely denounced the Common Agricultural Policy because it “kills African farmers†two things have happened: Bayrou has climbed from 14% in the polls to 20%, and at the same time he has lost his nerve. The higher he climbs in the opinion polls, the more tepid his speeches have become. Three weeks ago he could afford to tell farmers the truth about the CAP, yesterday with victory now possible, every vote counts and he can no longer afford to offend anyone. Which means he can’t afford to tell the truth. Yesterday he jumped on the Chirac band-wagon, attacking Peter Mandelson in Brussels for wanting to tamper with agricultural subsidies as a preliminary to re-starting trade talks at the WTO. I wonder why these politicians go for the lesser man, instead of aiming their rhetoric at the boss of the WTO, who makes it clear on his web-site that he too sees agricultural trade barriers in Europe as a problem? Could it be because he’s a Frenchman, Pascal Lamy?
Philippe de Villiers, extreme right Movement for France, was even more explicit about the need for trade barriers: “Europe is falling apart,†he thundered. “Wheat from the Ukraine, plums from Chile, meat from the Argentine, wine from Australia. All products in which France excels, then Europe introduces competition…..â€. It would be fascinating, during this election time, to have a French agriculture week – only French products in the shops, sold at a price that the farmers consider would bring them a fair income. Just so we could see what the prices are, and judge for ourselves whether we want to pay that, rather than having to rely on the figures and words provided by biased politicians.
Le Pen also wants to erect trade barriers, with a customs’ duty payable on all imports, food or otherwise. He sees that as the way to protect French products and raise money for the state. The Front National continues the trend started in the last presidential elections of picking up many voters from rural France, disllusioned not with the other candidates so much as the current batch of politicians who over 30 years have done so little to help the non-agricultural country people. Ségolène Royal also recognises that children in rural France are sometimes more disadvantaged than those living in the tower-block estates.
One consequence of the power of French farmers is the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU, under which large subsidies are provided to French farmers. To place this in perspective consider
| France | U. S. | |
| Agricultural production | $82.5B | $116.9B |
| Subsidies | $14.4B | $16.0B |
| Subsidies as percent of output | 17% | 14% |
| Exports | $45.9B | $54.0B |
| Exports as percent of total | 56% | 46% |
Source for U. S. agricultural output, exports: CIA Factbook
Source for French agricultural output, exports: French Embassy
Source for French subsidies: Wikipedia
Source for U. S. subsidies: Wikipedia
The BBC reports
French farmers traditionally vote right of centre but recent polls suggest this time the field is more open.
Mr Chirac drew such a loyal following of farmers not because they were staunch supporters of his centre right UMP party but more because they liked him as a man.
The personal touch may play out well for the rising star of these elections, the centrist candidate Francois Bayrou.
He is a farmer’s son and a horse breeder and, as one French farmer told me recently, he is about the only credible candidate who can honestly say he knows what it feels like to milk a cow.
Meanwhile Segolene Royal, the Socialist candidate, is scoring badly in surveys conducted in countryside communities despite representing a rural constituency herself – perhaps her white suits and high heels are holding her back.
Still topping the polls is Nicolas Sarkozy who comes from the same party as Mr Chirac but who has spent most of his life in Neuilly, a posh town just outside Paris which has left him tarnished with the “townie” brush.
Besides which he is teetotal – can French farmers really put a man in the Elysee who would not celebrate his success by drinking their wine?
One should be a little cautious about making analogies between the political spectrum in one country and another. When you read “ultra-right†in a characterization of a French politician, read “center left†by American standards. Also, “conservative†may have royalist implications. They’re not perfect analogies.
Democracy in France comments on the parade of presidential candidates at this year’s Salon d’Agriculture:
Another day at the agriculture fair. One farmer there was quoted as saying, “The politicians come to kiss a cow’s ass” to get the farm vote. On Monday there were visits by four Presidential candidates in less than three hours. I got three of them.
There’s the up-and-coming centrist candidate, François Bayrou, who’s increasing poll numbers and widening appeal seems to come from the fact that he’s neither left nor right but a proponent of discussion and compromise. Even French voters may be tiring of back-biting arguments.
Next up was a man named Philippe de Villiers (or Philippe Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon to use his full, aristocratic, name). He’s the scion of a well-connected family that doesn’t seem to have a clue. You can see that dear-caught-in-a-pickup-truck’s-headlights look in his eyes made famous in the US by Dan Quayle. When someone was explaining the glories of French technology as applied to genetic research and artificial insemination his eyes started glazing over as they looked around at the pretty pictures. Hew does look handsome in his smartly tailored suits however. Sound familiar?
Last up was ultra right winger Jean-Marie LePen from the National Front. He is a man who has dismissed the events of September 11, 2001 as a “mere incident” and said that British bombing raids during World War 2 were “terrorist acts.”
He goes on to note that, to his eyes, Le Pen received the most enthusiastic welcome.
There are others commenting on French politics today, too. Joe Gandelman takes note of Jacques Chirac’s farewell address. Nidra Poller has a profile of candidate Nicholas Sarkozy, recently endorsed by Chirac.
