Poor Folk

Last Tuesday morning, angry farmers near the town of Pamiers in southwestern France—like others across the country—set up barricades. The protests were sparked by announced cuts to diesel fuel subsidies, burdensome bureaucracy, and low purchase prices for agricultural products. The farmers of Pamiers blocked National Road No. 20, heading toward the Andorran border.

At 5:45 a.m., a blue BMW crashed at high speed into hay bales placed on the road. Behind the barricade, striking farmers were warming themselves with tea in a makeshift tent. Alexandra Sonac, a 35-year-old farmer and mother of two daughters, died instantly. Her 12-year-old daughter Camille died a few hours later. Alexandra’s husband was severely injured but is no longer in critical condition. The driver and two passengers in the BMW—all Armenian nationals who had been ordered deported after their asylum requests were denied—sustained minor injuries. The driver has been charged with involuntary manslaughter under aggravating circumstances. It is still unclear what the three Armenians were doing on the road that morning; one theory links them to cigarette smuggling, as tobacco in Andorra is three times cheaper than in France.

The tragedy shocked the French public and further fueled the anger of farmers, who in the following days blocked most major cities and slowly began advancing toward Paris.

The Pamiers tragedy reflects the complexity of the crisis unfolding in France—and more broadly, in Europe. The farmers' uprising is a response to the genuine hardship of rural France. Tractors now drive in convoys with coffins—memorials to Alexandra and Camille, and to the many French farmers who, in despair over their hopeless situations, have taken their own lives. Suicide rates among those working in agriculture are significantly above the national average.

At first glance, French politicians hardly seem indifferent to farmers. Visiting the spring agricultural fair in Paris is an annual highlight of the French political season. No elected official dares miss the chance to sip wine, nibble on cheese, pat a cow or two, and proclaim unwavering support for French agriculture and the countryside. Farmers enjoy public sympathy far beyond their demographic share of the population. Yet political words never translate into effective action. And so once again, farmers have driven their tractors from the fields onto the roads.

It’s also notable that in France—as in Germany and other European countries—the far right most loudly exploits the farmers' distress. This trend will significantly influence the outcome of the upcoming European elections. The fact that the Pamiers deaths were caused by a migrant whose asylum claim had been rejected is, for extremists, the perfect scenario—it fuses two key themes that fuel their path to power.

France’s farmers' revolt is a striking example of the existential crisis of liberal democracy. It is driven by real problems, and to be honest, democrats bear a large part of the blame—simply because they’ve been the ones holding power in democratic systems for decades. Extremists have long been on the fringe. But now, the failures, greed, inconsistency, opportunism, hypocrisy, and incompetence of those who loudly proclaim democratic values are paving the way for extremists’ rise.

To stop the far right, democratic forces must offer solutions. But painless fixes that won’t cause new dissatisfaction simply don’t exist anymore. Extremists have the easier job. They don’t have to solve problems; they just need to exploit the rage those problems provoke. The worse things get, the better it is for them.

Let’s look more closely at what French farmers are protesting. First, incomes. Many earn less than the French minimum wage. There are many reasons. Environmental policy is one frequently cited cause. The increasingly hated green transition is also the reason for the proposed end to diesel subsidies. “Our tractors don’t run on electricity like the SUVs of the Paris elites,” the farmers shout.

Just days before the Pamiers tragedy, President Macron spoke of the need to find solutions for those worried about making it to the end of the month, and those worried about the end of the world. On Friday, January 26, the Prime Minister announced a support package for farmers, including the continuation of diesel subsidies. That will help farmers through the end of the month—but it won’t stop the planet from burning. Not in France, nor anywhere else, have policymakers found ways to implement urgent environmental action in a socially just way—without disproportionately hurting already vulnerable populations. This fuels populist rage, though populists care little for social justice. Far-right leader Jordan Bardella speaks of “punitive environmentalism.”

Let’s set aside the fact that these subsidy-fighting “warriors,” whether in France, Germany, or Slovenia, often get teary-eyed when talking about Argentine President Milei—hardly known for his fondness for state intervention or “socialist nonsense.” Why fix problems when you can exploit them for political gain? Poor folk are useful to populists—as long as they stay poor.

Farmers’ incomes are also squeezed by low purchase prices imposed by big retail chains. “Let the state intervene and raise those prices!” is a common reaction. But that would raise prices at the grocery store. So would restrictions on agricultural imports—also high on the list of farmers’ demands. But it’s not that simple. Falling purchasing power is an issue that worries French voters even more than rural distress. Poor farmers, yes—but what about the rest of us?

Another complaint is paperwork—required to access EU agricultural subsidies. “We work the fields from dawn to dusk and fill out forms all night,” farmers say. In truth, there’s probably more room here for fast relief than in other areas. The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) allocates around €40 billion per year to farm support. That’s a huge sum. Many of the forms and checks farmers hate are there to prevent fraud—rare, but always high-profile when uncovered. Still, it’s clear procedures could be simplified, especially for small farms. Critics of CAP often argue it favors large landholders over family farms.

Populists are quick to exploit farmers’ discontent with Brussels for their sovereignist, nationalist narratives. Down with the EU and its diktats! Never mind that farmers don’t actually want to give up EU money, which they’d lose if Europe were re-nationalized—they just want easier access to the aid they badly need. But who cares? Just poor folk.

How this farmers’ revolt in France will end is still unclear. The measures announced by the Prime Minister last Friday have not yet calmed tensions. My GPS shows traffic around Strasbourg redder than the Ljubljana ring road. What’s clear is that this is part of a broader trend that will shape the political future of France and Europe.

In this super election year, the main issues are climate change, migration, and war—both in Europe and beyond. So far, democratically minded politics has failed to deliver effective solutions for any of them that would convince voters. Anti-liberal authoritarians and nationalists are salivating.

In fear for their positions, more and more European politicians try to imitate populist rhetoric to save their own skins. We’ve already seen how this ends. When choosing between a “sincere” populist and an opportunistic copy, voters always go for the original. To all our detriment.

Populists care no more about making it to the end of the month than about making it to the end of the world. If we hand them the reins, those two timelines might align sooner than we think.