How angry farmers tried to storm the EU headquarters. How angry farmers tried to storm the EU headquarters

The invasion starts early in the morning: a long column of about 900 tractors sets course for Brussels via the major access roads. If you’re not awake yet, you’re awake now at the latest: the sound of tractor horns wakes residents in the EU district from their sleep. The farmers, who come from all over Belgium, are angry. And they are determined to anger the agriculture ministers of EU member states meeting there.

Conditions as for a demo of May 1

The access roads to the EU headquarters at Rond Point Schuman have been blocked and the area has been systematically cordoned off. Things quickly become chaotic: barricades made from tractor tires that they brought with them go up in flames. A sharp smell wafts through the streets. A farmer empties his manure tank and sprays the police officers present. Tractor drivers and their guides try several times to break through the police blockades. The observers and journalists standing around shake their heads at the brutality. With great difficulty, the police managed to keep the rioters at bay with water cannons and tear gas. It goes back and forth like a May Day demo.

But Belgian farmers are not alone: ​​at the same time, farmers will take to the streets in Madrid on Monday. Protests have been going on in Poland for days. In Germany, angry farmers recently chased Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck to flight, and in Paris a horde of farmers wanted to seize Emmanuel Macron’s throat this weekend.

But what drives European farmers to the barricades? After all, as part of the common EU agricultural policy, they receive approximately 60 billion euros, more than a third of the common EU budget, and are among the best subsidized professional groups on the continent.

War and the Green Deal make everything worse

In fact, there are a whole range of reasons at play depending on the national context. If you talk to protesting farmers in Belgium, they cite the EU’s free trade policy and the planned Mercosur agreement as reasons for their anger. There are also requirements for reducing the nitrate content in the soil. In Germany, anger was recently sparked by the abolition of tax benefits for agricultural diesel. But the frustration over prices goes even deeper, with people feeling ripped off by the big distributors.

This feeling is also widespread in France. What is also new is the anger over imports of Ukrainian poultry or sugar beets, which distort the domestic price structure.

It is also the Ukrainian import that is pushing Polish farmers to take brutal actions. Just a few days ago they stopped a freight train at the Polish-Ukrainian border and dumped tons of Ukrainian grain on the tracks, prompting a letter of protest from Kiev. And hovering above all is the ‘Green Deal’, pushed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which is also forcing agriculture to implement environmental reforms.

But one thing is also clear: virtually no government can afford to tamper with farmers. While the barricades were burning outside and the tractors were honking, a delegation from the ranks of the demonstrators was unexpectedly invited to the Brussels negotiating room. At the end of the meeting it was agreed that bureaucracy should be reduced and emergency measures should be taken.

Farmers will keep a close eye on whether anything concrete follows the announcements. Otherwise they will come back, as they already announced.