In protest of increased taxes and growing expenses, farmers set off fireworks, ignited fires close to the European Parliament in Brussels, and flung eggs and stones at it on Thursday.
Protesters from Italy, Spain, and other European nations staged rallies at home and participated in the Brussels march, which coincided with a nearby EU summit, out of rage over cheap imports and green restrictions that are shared by farmers around Europe.
Local complaints differ as well, but the increasing unrest—observed in Portugal, Greece, and Germany as well—reveals difficulties regarding the EU’s efforts to combat climate change.
“We want to stop these crazy laws that come from the European Commission,” Spanish farmers’ union Asaja representative Jose Maria Castilla declared in Brussels.
Laptops 1000The extreme right, for whom farmers form an expanding base, is perceived to be making gains in June’s European Parliament elections, coinciding with the protests occurring around Europe. Authorities are attempting to calm the rage.
“The same question keeps coming up in Europe: how can we keep producing more but better? How can we combat climate change going forward? “What are the ways to prevent unfair competition from foreign nations?” asked French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in Paris while announcing new policies.
Attal pledged to improve farmer protection and ease their lives at the French and EU levels. Among other things, he would prohibit low-cost imports of goods containing pesticides that are prohibited in Europe and ensure that food labels made it apparent if the produce was imported. He added that there will be more assistance for farmers soon.
MORE ASSISTANCE
As EU leaders came to the meeting, farmers had already won many measures, such as the bloc’s executive commission plans to restrict agriculture imports from Ukraine and relax some environmental restrictions on fallow lands.
But they argue that this is insufficient, that taxes and environmental regulations are stifling them, and that unfair competition exists from overseas.
“The European Commission and politicians alike are extremely anxious about the impending European elections. Additionally, Spanish farmer Castilla stated, “I believe that this is the finest time for all of the European farmers to go out on the street together.”
Laptops 1000The issue involving the farmers is scheduled to be discussed later in the day, according to an EU diplomat, even though the farmers’ crisis is not formally on the agenda of the EU summit, which has so far concentrated on aid to Ukraine.
A farmer from just outside of Brussels, Kevin Bertens, stated during the demonstrations in the Belgian capital, “You have to have hope because it’s all over Europe.” “You require our help. Aid us!”
A few blocks from the summit site, small groups attempted to breach the barriers set up in front of parliament but were pushed back by police using tear gas and water hoses directed at the farmers.
An estimated 1,300 tractors blocked main thoroughfares in Brussels and destroyed a statue on the square, according to police estimates. At the European Council headquarters, behind barriers, riot-suited security agents stood watch over the leaders’ meeting.
Throughout the day, the pockets of disturbance grew smaller, but farmers still heckled at them.
“No sustenance, no hope.”
Farmers from Portugal traveled to the Spanish border in the early morning hours to obstruct a portion of the roadways that connected the two nations.
While others stopped highways surrounding the French capital, drone footage showed a massive column of tractors on a motorway near Jossigny. The farmers in France made their way towards the lower house of parliament in Paris.
Hundreds of Greek farmers drove their tractors into the heart of Thessaloniki, the country’s second-biggest city while flying black flags, a sign of what they claim is the demise of agriculture.
On one banner it said, “No farmers, no food, no future.” A black coffin was being carried by one tractor.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo stated that farmers’ complaints ought to be addressed when he came to the EU summit.
“They offer products of high quality; we also need to make sure that they can get the right price for the high-quality products that they provide,” he stated.
Leo Varadkar, the prime minister of Ireland, concurred with French President Emmanuel Macron that farmers want no trade agreement to be signed with the Mercosur group of South American nations in its current format.
Despite having differing opinions with other EU leaders on numerous matters, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary made a point of spending the night with farmers.
His spokesman cited him as stating, “We need to find new leaders who truly represent the interests of the people,” about the upcoming elections for the European Parliament.
