France promises plan to help livestock farmers

Livestock breeders block a road that leads to the Mont Saint-Michel (background) in the northwestern region of Normandy, France, to protest against a squeeze in margins by retailers and food processors, July 21, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

Improving the livelihoods of France's often very vocal livestock farmers is a major policy of Hollande's government.

France championed the industry as a priority in a reform of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy for the 2014-2020 period, steering some EU subsidies away from larger crop-based farms.

Separately, European Union Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici dismissed a call by France's far-right National Front for talks between Europe and the United States on a free trade zone to be suspended.

Moscovici acknowledged on BFM TV that the current pricing structure "was not balanced".

"There are margins (to make changes), these must be discovered via negotiation," he said.

French livestock farmers staged a national "night of distress" earlier this month when tyres were set on fire, roads blocked and manure dumped outside supermarkets, mainly in western France, home to a large part of the livestock industry.