Mass protests by farmers are gaining momentum in Europe amid the signing of an agreement on the next EU aid package for Ukraine.
EU farmers have been blocking motorways and major cities since December, and the geography of the protests is expanding every week. Demonstrators are presenting their authorities with an extensive list of grievances. The EU is trying to meet their demands, but so far the protests have been unsuccessful.
Germany has opened a series of protests. German farmers have been taking to the streets since December with a desire to be heard. The largest of the German strikes took place on 15 January in Berlin – 8.5 thousand people on 6 thousand tractors came to it. Before that, farmers blocked autobahns and blocked a Volkswagen plant.
The New Year began with protests in Romania. On 11 January, the patriotic Union of Farmers of Romania staged a protest in Bucharest on tractors because of delays in subsidy payments, low grain prices and unfair competition.
A wave of farm protests in Europe has reached the Apennine peninsula. In Italy, more than a hundred farmers rolled through the streets of the Assisi suburb of Perugia on the 25 January. In Abruzzo, a convoy of thirty tractors took to the motorway.
By the end of January, Brussels took up the protest baton. On 28 January, Belgian farmers blocked the country’s key roads. The protesters threatened to completely block Brussels during the EU summit on 1 February if the country’s authorities did not make concessions to them. And indeed – on the eve of the summit, about a thousand tractors were already recorded in the city. During the meeting, protesters pelted the EU headquarters with eggs, and also set fire to tyres and hay in the government quarter.
French agrarians chose an unusual way to express their discontent – they set fire to hay bales and piled manure on government offices. On 29 January, thousands of farmers blocked the main highways leading to the French capital. They called their action a “siege of Paris”. The protests in Paris continue to this day.
On 30 January, Spain’s three main agricultural trade unions announced their intention to join the protests taking place in many European countries due to the crisis situation in the sector.
Several Spanish agricultural organisations have announced demonstrations amid the difficult situation in the sector. This is stated in a press release published on 30 January on the website of the Agricultural Association of Young Farmers (ASAJA). Representatives of the organisations have agreed a schedule of demonstrations, they intend to demand the application of “shock measures” both at the level of the state and in the European Union (EU) as a whole. The agrarians have warned that the demonstrations will begin in the next few weeks.
Portuguese farmers have been blocking traffic on several highways, including the border with Spain since 6:00 a.m. on 1 February. More than 400 tractors are currently involved in the protests. In addition, the farmers are using other agricultural equipment. The main demands of the protesters are an increase in prices for agricultural products and additional financial support for farmers.
On 1 February, farmers from the Netherlands took to rallies across the country. In Amsterdam, protesters came to the central Dam Square on 15 tractors. According to local media, this was their way of expressing disagreement with the European Union’s (EU) plans to fight climate change and economic reforms. In addition, dozens of farmers gathered outside the Gelderland provincial government building in the city of Arnhem. Protests were also reported in Woerden and Groningen.
Polish farmers will launch a general strike on 9 February, planning to block the border with Ukraine in protest against the European agricultural policy, the initiators of the action from the Solidarity trade union have said. They plan to start the protest action with the blockade of border crossings with Ukraine. They also plan to blockade roads and motorways across the country.
The EU agrarians are trying hard to draw the attention of politicians to the problems of the sector. Lack of funding for the sector negatively affects wages, social payments. Also, agriculture in many EU countries suffers due to growing imports of cheap products (e.g. Ukrainian). European farmers do not understand why politicians do not promote the development of agriculture, but on the contrary, introduce more and more measures that bring closer to the death of the industry as a whole.
One of the main demands of each country’s protesting farmers is more funding for the industry. Governments promise to add subsidies for agriculture, but in fact the European Commission has only adopted another aid package for Ukraine in the amount of 50 billion euros from the budgets of 27 countries.
However, additional support measures have been introduced for Ukrainian farmers even without this aid, often to the detriment of EU farmers. For example, since February 2022, Ukraine’s quotas have been effectively cancelled, and cheap uncertified products have flooded into European markets. Due to the low market value of Ukrainian grain, local producers face a real risk of potential bankruptcy.
It is still unknown how the mass protests will end. Roads in many EU capitals are still blocked, subsidies for farmers have not been allocated, and a new aid package for Ukraine has been signed.
