The European Union's largest farm economy was determined to have strong regulations to support its farmers, but would be open-minded in upcoming talks on EU farm policy, especially in view of Germany's new coalition government, Le Maire said.
The EU's 27 members will start discussing this year the future form of the bloc's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which claims some 40% of the total EU budget.
France is the main beneficiary of the CAP, taking some 20% of the bloc's €40 billion farm budget in 2009.
Paris used a crisis in Europe's dairy sector last year to gather support for agricultural market regulation, culminating in a call in December by 22 EU members for an "ambitious" new CAP (EurActiv 11/12/09).
The talks on renewing the EU's farm policy are expected to pitch countries like France, who favour regulatory measures backed up by a large budget, against other members like Britain and the Netherlands, who have traditionally sought a slimmed-down budget with a phasing out of so-called single farm payments.
"We will defend the idea of a market regulation as a precondition for discussions, because we firmly believe in it," Le Maire said.
"The key question is prices," he said. "I don't know a single farm producer, whether in milk, grains or fruit and vegetables, who is not faced with this basic difficulty of having a sale price that is below the cost price."
French farmers staged mass protests last year in response to falling revenues across the farm sector in what Le Maire has referred to as the worst crisis in 30 years for agriculture.
The minister said it was too early to say what the French position would be on specific issues in the CAP talks, such as subsidy levels, but he reiterated his support for measures like intervention storage and insurance schemes.
France led a push last year to offer emergency measures to shore up a struggling dairy sector, including the beefing up of storage under the EU's intervention system.
"I think intervention is a useful element, including for grains," he added, declining to say whether the EU should go back on plans to phase out its minimum price scheme for grains.
New German stance
France's negotiating task in EU farm policy could be made tougher by a more free-market tone in the new government in Germany, its indispensable ally in EU talks, plus the likely election of an EU-sceptical Conservative government in Britain.
"Germany has changed in relation to farming, everyone needs to be aware of that," Le Maire said. "Germany now has a political landscape more inclined towards competition than it was before," he added in reference to the entry of the Free Democrats into a government coalition in Berlin last autumn.
Farm discussions with Britain would be more difficult, but less pivotal given the country's smaller agricultural sector compared to Germany's, he said.
"We're open to dialogue and we're open to new things as long as it allows each farm producer in France to make a decent living from his activity."
Asked about genetically modified (GM) crops, approval of which in the EU has been dogged by divisions between member countries, Le Maire said the bloc must have harmonised rules. "Nothing would be worse for Europe than to have a European farm sector with different speeds where everyone establishes their own rules and norms. It's not possible or reasonable."
The Dutch and Austrian governments have proposed plans to let national governments decide whether to allow GM crop cultivation as a solution to deadlocked EU-level talks.
Le Maire said he would also seek to ensure any environmental measures decided by France would be adopted by other EU states so as not to disadvantage French farmers, who have been losing market share in produce like milk and fruit.
Agri-food has been one of the few sectors in France boasting an export surplus in recent years, but this shrank sharply last year as exports in this sector declined 11%.
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
