The meeting of the EU agriculture ministers in Brussels is accompanied by protesting farmers from multiple countries, and whereas only 100 tractors are blocking the road from the city’s center and the EU Commission building, another 1,400 tractors are expected on access roads to Brussels today.
The farmers’ association European Coordination Via Campesina said that the EU had not yet done enough to counter the economic pressure, particularly pressure from low-price preferential imports. A sign reading “Stop EU Mercosur” was draped on a stage set up in the protest square today—an allusion to the ongoing negotiations to conclude an EU trade agreement with the South American common market, Mercosur. Farmers’ organizations from Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands sought for their members to join the new protest in Brussels on Feb. 26.
