The protest of European farmers has reached Brussels, EU headquarters. At least 100 French, Dutch and Italian farmers gathered in front of the European Parliament to protest against Green Deal policies and EU free trade agreements on Jan. 24. Copa-Cogeca, the main European agricultural organization, did not take part in the demonstration, as the organizers are not its members.
“In France as in other European countries, the decision will not be made by bureaucrats, who have no idea what the difficulty is of growing good products in France. And as we say in our signs, ‘Stop Wild Imports,’” Patrick Legras, of the Coordination Rurale collective, told Euronews.
The protest took place on the eve of talks between the European Commission and farm groups, agri-business reps, NGOs. The advance agenda for what is called a “strategic dialogue” has the usual crappy-sounding talk of “competitiveness,” tech innovations, etc. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been squeaking for months about the common interest of farming and environmentalism, saying there should be meetings. She said on Sept. 13, 2023 that all “stakeholders” should get together soon. The scheme now is to have these meetings over the coming months, and by September to have a new “vision.” Real malarkey. Presiding over the discussions will be Prof. Peter Strohschneider, former chairman of the German government’s Commission for the Future of Agriculture and an advocate of the so-called Green transition. It is clear how much good he did for any farmer or eater to date in Germany.