According to a May 13 Agence France-Presse report, French farmer François Goulet poured 20,000 litres (4,400 gallons) of milk down the drain. His gesture shows Goulet is on the side of approximately two thirds of French farmers in his opposition to the European Union’s new Constitution, for which France will hold a referendum on May 29. Goulet is quoted by AFP as stating "It’s not a vote against Europe, but against the technocrats in Paris and in Brussels. They’re imposing more constraints on us and yet we’re earning no more, sometimes even less."
Less predictably, leading French newspaper Le Monde also argues against the referendum. Commentators have expressed surprise at Le Monde’s stance, since the newspaper’s editors understand full well the damaging impact such a rejection of the European Constitution would have on the European project, not to mention the situation of France within the EU. To understand this split, one need only recall the last EU referendum in France.
On the day in 1992 when France voted to narrowly approve the Maastricht Treaty, I had been invited to enjoy the noon meal with a Parisian family. The father, a business magazine editor, was discussing the "yes" vote he was preparing to cast. The mother, concerned about the loss of France’s unique culture, was prepared to vote "no." One son, a graduate of the prestigious HEC business school employed by a multinational corporation, had decided to vote in favor of the treaty. Another son, a history student at the university, declared his intention to vote against it. On that sunny afternoon, the family ambled peaceably toward the neighborhood polling place, each aware that they were about to cancel out one another’s votes.
Another close referendum comes as no great surprise in a country where the cultural and economic stakes are so high. However, as a self-avowed globalist who also happened to come of age in the agricultural Midwest of the United States in the 1970's and 80's, I believe that France has thus far been judicious to refuse to submit to the domination of agribusiness. Many French farmers feel that powerful supermarket and food processing companies wield too much influence over prices and that they are prevented from selling their produce at a fair price. If a vote against the European Constitution is what it takes to prevent a scenario in which independent farms are nearly eradicated, as they have been in the US, then I reluctantly have to agree with François Goulet and with the editors of Le Monde.
Comments