Why hundreds of French villages and towns have the wrong road signs
A new batch was swapped overnight last week as part of a new farmers' protest
Unions mixed up the commune signs of many villages in Dordogne on Thursday night
JA 24
Drivers around France may wonder why many communes suddenly have the wrong name displayed on their entry roadside signs. The mixup is actually part of a new protest by two farmers’ unions.
Farmers around France swapped the entry name panels of hundreds of communes, starting in Tarn in September, followed by Val d'Oise and Dordogne.
Dozens of farmers took part in one such action in Dordogne in the night of October 10 to 11, swapping the signs of Négrondes with La Coquille, Agonac with Brantôme; Borrèze with Montignac-Lascaux.
For the Jeunes Agriculteurs and FDSEA unions behind the action, the message is clear:
“We don’t know where we’re going. They are stringing us along, so we are doing the same to the state,” the unions said in a statement.
The new campaign follows a similar protest in 2023 in which 800 commune signs were turned upside down around the country to draw attention to what unions described as the accumulation of regulations and red tape.
That protest ultimately gave way to the massive protests of February 2024, which saw the unions bring much of the country to a standstill with hundreds of roadblocks and rolling barricades on motorways.
The movement succeeded in several of its main objectives, including an end to the tax on agricultural diesel, a limit to the ban on pesticides and the reinforcement of the EGalim rules intended to favour French produce in supermarkets.
'Not a national campaign'
However, a spokesman for the national FNSEA union told The Connexion that both farmers' unions are "quite satisfied" what they obtained following their 2024 protests as well as with the plans for the 2025 budget, which included a new calculation for farmers' pensions based on their best 25 working years,
"This new campaign is really a local response, organised on a departmental basis due to ongoing problems," said FNSEA spokesman Antoine Giacomazzo.
These problems include the bluetongue epidemic currently affecting livestock farming, and the poor 2024 harvests, which had 26% less yield and volume than in 2023.
Unions in departments that are particularly affected by these issues want state relief, however no actions are currently planned on a national level.
Nonetheless, local organisers warn that a groundswell of discontent could arise if government inaction continues.
“Farmers in the Périgord, like all farmers in the country, are waiting for strong action. Nothing has been done since January 2024 and, to cap it all, the climate has ravaged the various harvests and livestock farming is plagued by disease.”
They go on to warn the new government that history could repeat itself.
“The tractors will be coming out again very soon. MPs and the government will have to get back to work quickly.”
