Head of France's biggest farming union: protests to continue

The head of France's biggest farming union - the FNSEA - said he was calling on its members to pursue their protest movement, even though earlier in the day the government had announced plans to improve farmers' living and working conditions.

The head of France's biggest farming union - the FNSEA - said he was calling on its members to pursue their protest movement, even though earlier in the day the government had announced plans to improve farmers' living and working conditions. "We have decided to pursue our movement," FNSEA head Arnaud Rousseau told French TV station TF1 on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, the French government dropped plans to gradually reduce state subsidies on agricultural diesel, as angry farmers surrounded Paris and threatened to converge on the capital in their tractors. Nevertheless, Rousseau said those announcements from Prime Minister Gabriel Attal 'did not respond to all of our questions' and 'did not calm down' the anger of many farmers.