FRANCE: Socialist presidential hopeful Francois Hollande visits France's annual agriculture fair in Paris, to try to woo farmers ahead of the upcoming elections in April 2012

Record ID: 644955

  • Title: FRANCE: Socialist presidential hopeful Francois Hollande visits France's annual agriculture fair in Paris, to try to woo farmers ahead of the upcoming elections in April 2012
  • Date: 29th February 2012
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FEBRUARY 28, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF THE AGRICULTURAL FAIR VENUE POSTER ANNOUNCING DATES FOR AGRICULTURAL VENUE VARIOUS OF COWS AT FAIR FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL SOCIALIST CANDIDATE MEETING FARMERS AND PETTING COW FARMER PETTING COW (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL SOCIALIST CANDIDATE FRANCOIS HOLLANDE SAYING: "I have come to the fair, as I do every year, with the same intention. To listen, to understand and to tell farmers that we need them. France needs strong agriculture, productive agriculture, diverse agriculture, durable agriculture." FARMERS/ COW (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL SOCIALIST CANDIDATE FRANCOIS HOLLANDE SAYING: "All the rules and norms must be co-ordinated, at a European level. It's not possible to have social and environmental norms for agriculture which are different in every country. Germany has conditions that are not the same as ours. I will see to it that there is agreement on minimum wage, as well as for sanitary conditions at a European level." VARIOUS OF COWS MEDIA AND OFFICIALS HOLLANDE TALKING TO OFFICIALS MEDIA / COW HOLLANDE AT STALL VISITORS TAKING PICTURES BUTCHERS PACKAGED MEATS HOLLANDE MEETING BUTCHERS CROWD AT THE FAIR FAIR PARTICIPANT DRINKING WINE FROM A SMALL BARREL VISITORS AT FAIR PIGLETS VISITORS AT THE PIG STALL FAIR PARTICIPANTS DANCING / VISITORS TAKING PICTURES
  • Embargoed: 15th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7XSF03S9D1RWSBK13NTBZTSQY
  • Story Text: French Socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande mingled with farmers at France's annual agriculture fair in Paris on Tuesday (February 28) to try to garner support from the sector in the upcoming April elections.
    Hollande, a loyal Socialist for 30 years and head of the party for a decade, is ahead of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy by several points in opinion polls for the April 22 first round and is a full 12 points ahead in surveys for a May 6 runoff. But he lags behind among farmers.
    Speaking to a crowd of reporters at the fair, Hollande called for greater co-ordination in the agricultural sector at a European level.
    "All the rules and norms must be co-ordinated, at a European level. It's not possible to have social and environmental norms for agriculture which are different in every country. Germany has conditions that are not the same as ours. I will see to it that there is agreement on minimum wage, as well as for sanitary conditions at a European level," he said.
    The farming sector has traditionally been a conservative bastion in France, and two polls published on Friday put Sarkozy in the lead among farmers.
    An Ifop-Fiducial survey of 602 farmers carried out on Feb. 14-21 gave Sarkozy 40 percent support, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen at 17 percent, centrist Francois Bayrou at 16 percent and Hollande at 14 percent.
    An OpinionWay-Fiducial poll of 503 farmers conducted on Feb. 21-22 gave Sarkozy 40 percent, Bayrou 18 percent, Le Pen 15 percent and Hollande 12 percent. It found farmers would vote 68 percent for Sarkozy and 32 percent Hollande in a runoff.
    France is Europe's top agricultural producer, accounting for nearly a fifth of farm output, and benefits most from the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), taking around the same proportion of subsidies.
    Hollande was seen petting cows unlike Sarkozy who refrained from getting too close to the livestock.
    The 49th farm fair, the biggest of its kind in Europe and held at a vast conference hall on the edge of Paris that can pack in some 4,700 animals, expects to see some 700,000 visitors over nine days, including the other presidential candidates.
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