China News Service, February 2 (Xinhua) According to comprehensive foreign media reports, on February 1, local time, the EU Summit was held in Brussels, Belgium. Outside the venue, European farmers drove thousands of tractors to block many roads in Brussels, burned hay, and threw eggs and firecrackers at the police to protest against the EU and European countries' agricultural policies that harm the interests of farmers.
European farmers have complained for weeks that more and cheaper foreign produce is entering the EU as energy and fertilizer costs soar due to the crisis in Ukraine, while droughts, floods or fires caused by climate change devastate the economy. of the crops they grew, so it was more difficult than ever for European farmers to make a decent living.
According to reports, their protests disrupted traffic in the city of Brussels, preventing millions of European citizens from going to work or school, while "blockades" at ports and major transportation arteries left flowers on trucks withered and supermarket shelves empty. . Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban even complained that the incessant honking of tractors kept him awake at night.
"We want to shock them (through our protest), we want them to be scared and change the laws they have enacted," Vassilis Kanods, a farmer participating in the protest, said, according to Reuters.
Faced with growing protests by farmers, EU leaders hope to appease voters and end chaos in several cities. On January 31, the European Commission formally proposed introducing safeguard measures to restrict Ukrainian grain imports and allow farmers to use some land that had been forced to fallow due to environmental reasons.