Farmer Protests in Brussels Block EU Quarter

Farmers’ protests that have swept European capitals in recent weeks are now converging on Brussels, Belgium, home to various EU institutions. At dawn on February 26, demonstrators on tractors, which have become the symbol and instrument of the protests, entered the areas of the city where the Union’s institutions are located.

Farmers are protesting against the unification policy. In the morning, police clashed outside the headquarters of the European Commission and Council, using water cannons to put out fires lit by protesters burning old tires. More than a thousand tractors are blocking various arteries of the city, particularly the European Quarter, where the agriculture ministers of the 27 member countries are meeting. Farmers protest against the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Green Deal. This is happening despite recent initiatives by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has promised a “bureaucratic simplification” of the relevant procedures, which is on the agenda of today’s meeting of EU agriculture ministers. The demands are summarized by Ettore Prandini, president of the Italian Coldiretti trade union: “We are here to demand answers to our questions and eliminate meaningless regulations.”

Today’s discussions include a moratorium on sanctions for those who fail to meet European obligations due to environmental disasters and set aside 4% of fallow land. Von der Leyen’s line in these weeks of protest was to listen to the demands of farm workers, promise “subsidies,” and ease the Green Deal rules, while emphasizing the importance of the green transition.