New Farmers’ Protest in Belgium, Antwerp Port Blocked

There is no peace of mind in Europe, where farmer protests continue unabated. In Belgium, more than 500 tractors blocked roads leading to the port of Antwerp, the second largest port and logistics center for cargo shipments in the entire Old Continent. The port authority is sounding the alarm. “The farmers’ actions are causing serious disruption to traffic in the Antwerp port area,” the statement published on the port website reads. Judging from images broadcast live on Belgian TV channels, farmers engaged several hundred tractors, completely blocking access to the port. The streets around there are clogged with trucks and other heavy equipment. As reported by broadcaster VRT, “farmers from all over Flanders gathered in Antwerp to take part in the protest.”

However, farmers blocking the access roads to the port promised to let emergency services through if necessary. According to protest leaders, the farmers want to “put pressure on EU politicians who have so far ignored the farmers’ legitimate demands.”

The farmer protests that have shaken many European countries reflect serious problems affecting European economies. In France, contrary to analysts’ expectations, the unemployment rate did not fall in the fourth quarter of 2023, but remained stable at an alarming 7.5 percent.

And as a possible lever for Germany’s economic recovery, Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested concentrating on mass production of armaments. According to the German press, Scholz called on the defense industry to abandon “factory” production of weapons and begin “high-volume” production.

At a ceremony marking the start of construction of a new factory for the military-industrial conglomerate Rheinmetall in Unterluss, Lower Saxony, Scholz said that “for too long Germany’s arms policy has been conducted as if it were buying a car.” Specifically, Scholz stated: “If I want to buy a Volkswagen Golf in two or three years, I already know today that it will be available. I may have to wait three or six months to get it, but after that the car will become available.” However, the Chancellor emphasized, “arms production doesn’t work that way. Self-propelled howitzers, helicopters, and anti-aircraft systems are not lying on shelves somewhere.” Scholz then observed that those who want peace must be able to discourage potential aggressors: “As harsh as the reality may be,” the head of the federal government eventually declared, “we are not living in times of peace.”

And as German media finally noted, with his “strange” reference to Volkswagen, Scholz wanted to show his solidarity with the German automaker’s former CEO Martin Winterkorn, who will be heard as a witness on February 13 in a Brunswick court as part of the trial over the diesel scandal that engulfed Volkswagen in 2015. The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung recalls that after that case, then CEO Winterkorn “had to resign from his position.” In the Brunswick court, Winterkorn is accused of “manipulating pollutant emissions.”