“River” of Tractors from All over Europe Overwhelms Brussels

On Thursday, February 1, Brussels, the capital of Belgium and seat of power of the European Union, woke up to utter chaos. At night, a thousand tractors entered the city to denounce the “inconsistency of European policy” in agriculture.

Thus, the farmers’ anger moved from France, Italy, and Germany to the center of power of the community: the streets near the European Quarter, where EU leaders are expected today for an extraordinary meeting of the European Council, were blocked by police and protesters.

Farmers from across Europe are protesting against the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Green Deal, which “puts the EU agricultural sector at a disadvantage compared to global competition.” French and Belgian farmers “jointly” blocked a border crossing between the two countries on Wednesday, ahead of the European summit, denouncing the “distortion of competition” contained in free trade agreements and demanding an immediate “very strong solution.”

Since early morning, protesters without tractors have blocked the Luxembourg square right in front of the European Parliament and set fire to wood and tires, with loud explosions of firecrackers heard every minute. Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre De Croo tried to calm passions, but with little success: “We need to be able to discuss this issue in Council because the concerns that farmers have are partly valid: climate change is a key priority for our community, and we need to ensure that our farmers are partners on this journey,” De Croo said.

Although the anger of the European agricultural community is not on the official agenda of today’s community summit, observers do not rule out that EU leaders may devote part of their time to analyzing the farmers’ demands – “more than legitimate” from the European public opinion’s viewpoint.

For the first time, the Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti decided to actively participate in the protests of their European counterparts. According to Coldiretti, Italian agriculture had a combined turnover of more than 600 billion euros in 2023, but is now “at risk due to insane policies of the European Union.”

Shifting the center of gravity of the protest to Brussels has not stopped French farmers from continuing to press the highways around Paris. Tensions escalated further on Wednesday night with the first arrests of protesters who wanted to block the Rungis market, the main food hub in the Paris region and the largest agri-food logistics center in all of Europe.