Sarkozy announces 'unprecedented' farm aid plan

Latest update : 2009-10-27
French President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed the demands of farmers’ unions and agricultural employers in a speech on Tuesday, promising to protect the industry through one billion euros in government loans, 650 million euros in aid, and tax cuts.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday pledged 650 million euros in aid for struggling French farmers in addition to one billion euro in loans to the farming sector in a major speech outlining his government’s new agricultural policy.
"There is no question of France abandoning its agriculture," said Sarkozy said in a speech delivered in the picturesque cheese-producing village of Poligny in the east of France. "I have come to offer you an unprecedented plan of exceptional support for our agriculture.”
Date created : 2009-10-27