French and Belgian farmers have set up numerous blockades on highways and access roads to a major container port in order to pressure governments to relax environmental regulations and protect them from increasing costs and inexpensive imports, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Protests have spread to other parts of Europe, with Spanish farmers indicating they will join the movement and 1,000 Italian farmers planning to participate in demonstrations in Brussels on Thursday to urge EU leaders to take action. German and Romanian farmers with similar complaints have also taken action.
Farmers claim that they are not being sufficiently compensated, are suffocated by taxes and green regulations, and face unfair competition from abroad.
“If we continue like this, the end of agriculture will signify the end of civilization,” 28-year-old Belgian farmer Adelin Desmecht said, attributing too much regulation and paperwork to the problem.
In France, long lines of tractors moved closer to Paris and its Rungis international food market, which is a central hub for produce for France and beyond. The government has not yet intervened to remove the blockades, which represents a red line for the French government.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin stated that there are approximately 100 blockades and cautioned protesters against attempting to block airports, Rungis, or the capital. Standoffs between tractors and police near the Loire river were shown by BFM TV.
In Belgium, farmers blocked access roads to the Zeebrugge container port. One of the protest organizers, Bruno, stated that more than 100 tractors were participating in the blockade. According to local media, a major highway in Belgium was also blocked.
French farmers have already succeeded in obtaining several concessions, including the government abandoning plans to gradually decrease subsidies on agricultural diesel.
On Wednesday, European Commissioners proposed restrictions on agricultural imports from Ukraine and increased flexibility on rules regarding fallow land in order to quell the protests.
The protests across Europe come ahead of the European Parliament elections in June, in which the far right, who view farmers as an increasing constituency, are predicted to make gains.
In Italy, farmers have blocked traffic with hundreds of tractors near motorway access points in recent days. Farmers’ lobby Coldiretti has announced that more than 1,000 members will travel to Brussels to participate in a demonstration outside the European Parliament on Thursday.
While a solution appears feasible for fallow land, the issue of negotiations on a major trade agreement with the Mercosur group is more contentious.
French Finance Minister Le Maire reiterated on Wednesday that Paris does not want the deal signed in its current form due to a lack of assurances that imported products would have to meet EU standards. However, the European Commission has stated that it still aims to conclude a free trade agreement with the South American bloc.
Le Maire also stated in an interview with French radio CNews/Europe 1 that he would increase checks on major French and European retailers to ensure they pay French farmers equitably under a law designed to protect farm-gate prices.
In another attempt to appease farmer anger, the agriculture ministry announced an additional 230 million euros in assistance for French wine producers, who have been impacted by declining consumption. Last year, authorities had already offered subsidies to distill surplus wine stocks into industrial alcohol and allowed Bordeaux producers to remove some of their vines.
(Reporting by Marco Trujillo, Abdul Saboor, Jean-Stephane Brosse, Gus Trompiz, Dominique Vidalon, Benoit van Overstraeten, Geert de Clercq in Paris, Charlotte van Campenhout in Amsterdam, Phil Blenikinsop in Brussels, Alvise Arminelli in Milan; Writing by Ingrid Melander and Ros Russell)
