Protests spread to 27 countries over three months
James Pascual
Farmers Forum
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — Farmer protests that began in Germany in mid-December and have spread to all 27-member European Union countries have continued straight through the month of March.
As recently as March 26, a fire was started in the outside stairwell at a Brussels Metro station near the European Council building and e-bikes were thrown from a bridge. Farmers sprayed manure and dumped potatoes in the centre of the Belgian capital and in a stand-off with police, they threw eggs and flash bombs while ministers of agriculture were meeting nearby.
The Associated Press reported that police in Brussels used tear gas and water cannons to keep as many as 300 tractors away from the European government building. Police told commuters to work from home and Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden said violent protesters would be prosecuted.
Farmers in Ireland and England and from Finland to Greece have held dramatic ongoing tractor rallies and road blockades in protest of climate change policies that they say are heavy-handed while showing no proof of any benefits. The green policies include a carbon tax, a pesticide ban, curbs on nitrogen emissions and restrictions on water and land usage.
Farmers have already won some victories including an easing of restrictive policies on pesticide use and French farmers pushed their government to drop a diesel tax. Farmers are also protesting cheap imports and want custom duties re-imposed on imports from Ukraine.
A large crowd of farmers face off against police in Warsaw on March 6.
The protests are obviously working. On March 26, the European Union member states said they would back off on more rules when they meet to vote in late April. The Associated Press reported that European farmers have had “a deep influence on politics.”
The news agency added that “The plight of farmers has become a rallying cry for populists and conservatives who claim EU climate and farm policies are little more than bureaucratic bungling from elitist politicians who have lost any feeling for soil and land.”
Farming lobbies said that farmers will continue to protest across Europe right into June.
The European climate change agenda called the Green Deal policies initially demanded a 50 % cut in pesticide use, the conversion of 25 % of EU farmland to organic production (up from 10 %), and a 20 % cut in fertilizer use by 2030. It also required 10 % of European farmland to be set aside for biodiversity — woodlots and the like. The Green Deal’s “30 by 30” initiative would also compel 30 % of all European land and oceans to be left in their natural state. EU regulations would require farmers to leave fallow 4 % of their arable land.
In Canada, the Trudeau government has also signed an international 30-by-30 agreement as part of the 2022 COP15 biodiversity conference.
