Max Bauer: 'After the elections, a reshuffled team, but already arrogance and little respect...'
Created in 1924, the Chambres d’agriculture are public institutions run by elected officials representing all actors in the agricultural and rural world...
Alongside 450,000 French farmers and present at the departmental, regional, and national levels, the Chambres d'agriculture bring together 3,200 elected officials and employ 8,230 staff, including 6,430 managers and technicians. As is the case every 6 years, this election was of highly strategic importance for agricultural unions. For years, Max Bauer, president of the Coordination Rurale of the Var and head of the list, has denounced this voting system which he considers unequal: 'Indeed, neither majority nor proportional, the voting system operates with a first-placed list bonus.
The leading list, regardless of the score achieved, is rewarded with half of the seats in the college of farm operators. The remaining 50% are distributed proportionally. An operation that greatly favors the alliance of the Jeunes Agriculteurs (JA) and the FNSEA (association of two unions), to the detriment of other unions.'
SYSTEM PROVOCATION Thus, at the national level, the Coordination Rurale will lead 10 Chambres d'agriculture in France, even though it won the college of farm operators in 14 departments. The breakthrough remains significant since the union previously only presided over three. 'In the Var, the CR 83 achieved 10% more than 6 years ago, rising from 16 to 26% of the votes cast, but it still only gets two elected representatives, compared to 14 for the FDSEA-JA alliance.
This is unfair to all of their voters and it is a form of provocation by the system,' deplores Max Bauer. He adds: 'In concrete terms, of the 34 elected members of the Chambre d'agriculture, 18 come from the college of farm operators, the others are divided among the colleges of retirees, employees, landowners, the MSA, Groupama, the Crédit Agricole, and agricultural cooperation; by allying with their friends from the other colleges, the FDSEA-JA elected representatives manage in some departments to overturn the vote of the farmers.'
For Max Bauer, this is a real scandal: 'This is a serious denial of democracy, comparable to political tampering that ends up producing a National Assembly that does not represent a section of the French people. By constantly manipulating minds, they will end up making the French fight amongst themselves. It is reckless'!
NO OPENNESS The president of the Coordination Rurale does not hide his anger: 'This is the case with the Chambre d'agriculture of the Var, which has become arrogant and disrespectful of other unions. The president has shown no openness towards the Confédération Paysanne or the Coordination Rurale. No seat on the board was offered to the four co-opted associate members, all from the FDSEA-JA, even though candidates were proposed by the other two unions.
Even the way this nomination took place is borderline legal in its form.'
The agricultural unionist continues: 'Finally, to continue with the grotesque, I leave the following facts to everyone's appreciation and reflection: how could the outgoing team, which in a November correction had a surplus of a few hundred euros, present, at the beginning of this year, the income statement for the 2024 financial year with a deficit of nearly €100,000? Lies and electoral manipulation. The president's explanations did not convince us.
It is a desire to muzzle the opposition. These schemes are small and petty! After two sessions (meetings), a tense atmosphere already reigns at the Chambre d'agriculture, which worries many people, including the préfet of the Var.'
'This type of behavior leads to new memberships for the CR 83. It inspires vocations of motivated unionists. The next generation is preparing. We will be there to train and support them. For the general interest of farmers, to defend them with conviction, our determination will be unwavering,' concludes Max Bauer.