Farmers: anger spreads across Europe on the eve of a crucial summit in Brussels
The discontent of farmers is starting to spread across Europe since the Spaniards announce that they want to join the movement, becoming the eighth country affected by peasant discontent. The concern of the capitals is reflected in Brussels where a European summit is being held this week; it will be this Thursday, February 1 and Belgian farmers have already promised to come with hundreds of tractors to block the European district. In this context, the European Commission is tackling one of the major demands of farmers: the much-criticized fallowing obligation.
A delegation from the Belgian Young Farmers association blocks the main highway between Paris and Brussels in Halle, just outside the Belgian capital, on Tuesday, January 30, 2024, for the third day in a row. AP - Raf Casert
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Brussels residents are expecting a day of traffic jams in the city center on Thursday, with Belgian farmers planning to mobilize en masse when European heads of state and government meet. After blocking several roads and access to the port of Zeebrugge, farmers could organize protest actions around the port of Antwerp today. They will be joined in the center of the capital by their Italian, Portuguese and Spanish colleagues, with Spain's three main agricultural unions having announced "mobilizations
"
across the country over the "
coming weeks
".
“
The agricultural sector in Europe and Spain is facing growing frustration and unease
”, due in particular to “the stifling bureaucracy generated by European regulations”, explained in a joint press release the Asaja, the UPA and the Coag.
🚜🚜🚜COAG, ASAJA and UPA have established a calendar of movements in the Autonomous Communities. 🧑🌾👩🌾 ¡Attento a la convocatoria en tu zone!📆 @La_COAG @CoagCyl @ASAJACyL @AsajaNacional @ALIANZAUPACOAG @UPA_Federal @upacyl @mapagob @jcyl https://t.co/SpuM0sRIt9
— COAG CyL (@CoagCyl) January 30, 2024
These three organizations, which do not specify at this stage the exact dates of the demonstrations, say they want a "
relaxation
" and a "
simplification
" of the Common Agricultural Policy, as well as an "
ambitious action plan
" at the "level"
. 'EU, Spain
' and
Spanish '
regions '.
European farmers "
are fighting against a deregulated market which imports agricultural products from third countries at low prices, which are driving down
" the prices of foodstuffs produced "
in the EU
" and "
in Spain
", underline the three organizations, the majority among Spanish farmers. “
These extra-community products do not respect European rules
” in terms of respect for the environment and are at the origin of “
unfair competition
”, which “
threatens the viability of thousands of agricultural operations in Spain and in Europe
” , adds the press release.
As for SOS Rural, which brings together independent farmers, they denounce even worse working conditions, and promise tractor demonstrations in the 52 provincial capitals on February 6.
This process will come to fruition in the coming days. The calendar will be established at the territorial and regional level, and our organizations at the regional level will set the dates for the mobilizations, which can be demonstrations, rallies, tractions and symbolic acts. In other words, there could be a variety of mobilizations. We do not believe that this mobilization will lead to an interruption in the production capacity or marketing capacity of Spanish products, in particular Spanish fruits and vegetables within the European Union. We will organize demonstrations and protests which we hope will receive a response from the community executive, the Spanish central government and the autonomous communities. But we will not interrupt, condition or alter our production capacity, nor our ability to market and make our products available to European farmers. So from our production.
00:59
Marcos Alarcon, Deputy Secretary General of the UPA (Union of Small Farmers and Breeders) UPA Union
Paula Estanol
In France, the Prime Minister promised farmers on Tuesday January 30 “
to be there
” to respond to their unease. In his general policy speech to the Assembly, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal defended a “
French agricultural exception
”. Listing several of the measures intended to make life easier for farmers already announced, he recalled that the agricultural crisis would not be resolved “
in a few days
”. He said he was ready to “
go further
”, promising for example that European aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) would be paid “
by March 15
” and additional tax aid for breeders.
Read alsoFrance: what to remember from Gabriel Attal's general policy declaration
After this speech, the majority union, FNSEA, remained silent after this speech by Gabriel Attal, while for the Confédération paysanne, 3rd agricultural union, classified on the left, this declaration offered "no
long-term perspective
" to the peasant world. .
At the blockades around Paris, farmers did not hide their disappointment. Mobilized on motorway blockades around major cities, French farmers want to change gear and make their voices heard in Brussels, precisely.
We will rotate through Brussels: one day it's the French, one day it's the Belgians, one day it's the Romanians, etc...
01:15
Determined French farmers target Brussels - report from Jossigny, Ile-de-France
Stéphane Geneste
Most regulations being defined at European level, this summit of 27 is particularly awaited by the agricultural world. Emmanuel Macron plans to meet Thursday with European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and other European officials. The French president, also faced with significant mobilization, pleads for “
a European debate
”. The French Minister of Agriculture comes to prepare the ground: Marc Fesneau is in Brussels today to discuss these French agricultural demands.
In Brussels, new exemptions in sight for fallow land
The Common Agricultural Policy, the CAP, has been forcing farmers for ten years to leave part of their land fallow. This concerns all farms of more than 10 hectares. For a year, they have had to comply with this fallow obligation on 4% of their land before being able to receive the subsidies provided for by the CAP.
With the war in Ukraine, a waiver was granted for 2022 and 2023 to ensure food security. Farmers are calling for the continuation of the exemptions, but European rules prevent it from being reproduced in the same form.
Also listen: The agricultural crisis returns to Brussels
The Commission is therefore proposing a new type of exemption. The 4% fallow obligation would be replaced by a plan for 7% of land, reports our correspondent in Brussels,
Pierre Benazet
.
First of all, these lands must not receive any pesticides and secondly, they must grow specific crops. Either legumes (beans, peas, beans) which do not fix nitrogen in the soil, or catch crops. These are crops that can be intercropped between two rapidly maturing crops such as sunflower or corn.
These very technical measures should be adopted by Thursday February 1 by the Commission, before the European summit and before the arrival of the tractors in Brussels.
Macron defends the CAP, but calls for “
rules
” to face non-European competition
From Stockholm, French President Emmanuel Macron responded this Tuesday to the anger of farmers in France by defending a European approach. He defends the idea of harmonization of agricultural standards within the European Union, and more restrictive clauses at European level for products imported from abroad, where the standards are not the same.
Listen, without the Common Agricultural Policy, our farmers would have no income. We have worked a lot in recent years at the French and European level to improve this income. Quite simply, sectors are in difficulty, fruit and vegetables, market gardening, viticulture - in certain regions, I think in particular Hérault, Gard -, poultry have experienced difficulties in recent months. But I think it would be easy to blame everything on Europe. So what is the answer: to have much better monitored commercial negotiations, which means that our distributors are much fewer in number. Do not take all the added value, it will also have to be a European debate. Because it has not escaped your notice that some of our distributors have organized the circumvention of French law through large European centers. The solution is not less Europe, it is sometimes more than one Europe. In any case less fussy to bother those who work on a daily basis and clearer to regulate the interests that are formed. And so when we ask our manufacturers and our farmers to make efforts on their production, we must import products from countries that make the same type of effort. Otherwise, you create distortion and unfair competition.
01:08
Emmanuel Macron in Sweden: “Without Common Agricultural Policy, our farmers would have no income”
Also read: Germany, Poland, Romania, Italy, France: the discontent of European farmers
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