Floods: farmers from Pas-de-Calais demonstrate for river cleaning

Coming with an excavator, tractors and banners, the demonstrators gathered in the morning in Outreau on the banks of the Liane to denounce the inaction of the public authorities, according to them, in the face of the floods which have hit the department since November.

“We are asking that the watercourses be maintained and the same thing for the Canche and the Aa,” explained Jean-Pierre Clipet, departmental secretary of the FDSEA (departmental federation of farmers' unions).

According to the prefecture, the demonstration brought together around sixty tractors.

FDSEA and Young Farmers (JA) also launched this day of action to demand "a reassessment" of the emergency fund of 80 million euros promised by the government for affected farmers in Hauts-de-France but also in Brittany and Normandy affected by storm Ciaran.

This aid which will go "up to 5.000 euros (per farm) does not satisfy us. We have market gardeners who are largely neglected, they have fears for winter vegetables", and "we do not know how (this aid ) will be awarded,” worries Mr. Clipet.

According to the FDSEA, in Pas-de-Calais, the floods have already compromised "sugar beet crops which will have to be uprooted" and have also prevented the sowing of wheat, the areas of which are only "sown at 50%" since November.

The Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu announced Thursday in Pas-de-Calais a change in regulations to “facilitate cleaning”, the possible consequences of which, however, remain debated between experts and environmental defenders.

The mayor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Frédéric Cuvillier, told AFP that the urban community was ready "to co-finance" the cleaning of the Liane. “This still needs to be undertaken by the owner” of the basin, he added, targeting the regional council.