(Bloomberg) -- The French government is racing to head off a blockade of Paris by farmers who have been choking roadways in recent days to protest higher production costs and stringent European regulations.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal promised further measures to address what farmers see as unfair competition and issues with the transfer of farm properties during a visit in central France on Sunday. His trip, the second to a farm in three days, comes as the country’s biggest farmers union called for a “siege” of Paris from tomorrow.

“We have to give farmers more leeway at the local level,” Attal said at a farm in Indre-et-Loire.

Unions have been unswayed by initial government pledges of more support. Farmers from the surrounding Paris region are set to block the capital for an “undetermined period of time” beginning Monday afternoon, the powerful FNSEA union said in a statement late Saturday.

“All major roads heading into the capital will be occupied by farmers,” the FNSEA said in the statement, which was also backed by the Young Farmers union.

The Rural Coordination union in Lot-et-Garonne, in southwestern France, said earlier this weekend that it would drive tractors toward Paris on Monday to block the Rungis wholesale food market, just outside the capital.

Attal on Friday attempted to defuse farmers’ fury by promising to reverse a plan to raise taxes on farming fuel and issue big fines to companies that don’t respect rules on price negotiations. He also reiterated France’s opposition to a major trade agreement between the European Union and South American bloc Mercosur.

Further measures for winegrowers, including those hit by mildew-related losses, will be announced this coming week, Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau said on Saturday.

Farmers’ unrest has rippled across several countries in Europe, including Germany and Poland. 

In Belgium, the Federation of Young Farmers planned protests on Sunday in the French-speaking part of the country. About 100 tractors gathered Saturday night near Mons, south of Brussels, circling the ring road in a slow motion, Le Soir newspaper reported.

Read more: Protests by Angry Farmers Spread Across Europe: Supply Lines

In Italy, more than a hundred tractors blocked a highway toll gate near Rome on Saturday for a few hours, La Repubblica newspaper reported, citing protests in other cities such as Venice. A group of French farmers that rebuffed Attal’s proposals are expected to join a Sunday protest in Turin, according to the newspaper.

--With assistance from Lyubov Pronina and Antonio Vanuzzo.

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