Farmers demonstrate with their tractors in the ‘Rue de l’étang’ (Pond Street) during an EU Summit on 1 February 2024 in Brussels, Belgium. Farmers from all over Europe set up their tractors overnight and this morning around the European district in Brussels on the sidelines of a summit of EU leaders.
Thierry Monasse/Getty Images
- Thousands of farmers from
different EU countries have gathered in Brussels to protest against taxes,
rising costs, and cheap imports. - They claim they are not
being paid enough, are choked by taxes and green rules, and face unfair
competition from abroad. - The protests come ahead of
European Parliament elections in June in which the far right is seen making
gains, for whom farmers represent a growing constituency.
Columns
of tractors lined up in the streets of Brussels early on Thursday to press a
summit of European Union leaders to do more to help farmers with taxes, rising
costs and cheap imports.
One
tractor displayed a banner saying, “If you love the earth, support those
who manage it”, as farmers from Belgium and other European countries try
to make themselves heard by EU leaders meeting later.
Another
banner read: “No farmers, no food.”
The
square in front of the EU Parliament was filled with tractors and farmers set
up bonfires and let off firecrackers. A few threw eggs at the building.
READ | French farmers plan indefinite ‘siege’ of Paris, demanding better pay, conditions
Major
thoroughfares in Brussels, the heart of the European Union, were blocked by
around 1 000 tractors, according to a police estimate.
Security
personnel in riot gear stood guard behind barriers at the EU headquarters where
the leaders are due to meet.
“If
you see with how many people we are here today, and if you see it’s all over
Europe, so you must have hope. We must have hope that these people see that
farming is necessary. It’s the food, you know,” said Kevin Bertens, a
farmer from just outside Brussels.
Farmers
say they are not being paid enough, are choked by taxes and green rules and
face unfair competition from abroad.
They
have already secured several measures, including the bloc’s executive
Commission proposals to limit farm imports from Ukraine and loosen some
environmental regulations on fallow lands.
In
France, where farmers have been protesting for weeks, the government has
dropped plans to gradually reduce subsidies on agricultural diesel and promised
more aid.
But
farmers say that is not enough, and protests have spread to countries including
Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal
The
protests across Europe come ahead of European Parliament elections in June in
which the far right, for whom farmers represent a growing constituency, is seen
making gains.
While
the farmers’ crisis is not officially on the agenda of the EU summit, it is
bound to be discussed, at least on the margins.
Already,
with all eyes on Viktor Orban, as the other 26 EU leaders want to convince him
at the summit to join a plan to offer stable financing to Ukraine, the
Hungarian Prime Minister made a point of meeting farmers overnight.
“We
need to find new leaders who truly represent the interests of the people,”
his spokesperson quoted him as saying, referring to the European Parliament
elections. “The @EU_Commission should represent the interests of European
farmers against those of Ukraine, not the other way around,” he quoted
Orban as saying.
In
France, where farmers stepped up protests at the start of the week, the impact
of dozens of blockades is starting to be felt, said Eric Hemar, the head of a
federation of transport and logistics employers.
“We
did a poll among our federation members: all transport firms are impacted (by
the farmers’ protest) and have lost over the past 10 days about 30% of their
revenue, because we are not able to deliver on time or with delays,” he
told franceinfo broadcaster.
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