At least 900 tractors blockaded the inner city and the seat of the EU Commission in Brussels yesterday, as the EU agriculture ministers meeting there had yielded no more than some minor concessions to the farmers.
The European Coordination Via Campesina, which helped organized the protest in Brussels, reiterated its charge that the EU Commission is primarily catering to the needs of large industrial farms. “The EU’s political decision-makers have once again failed to listen to the majority of farmers,” said the organization, which claims to represent small- and medium-sized farmers, and farm workers, across Europe. The EU Commission’s promise to do something for the small farms, so far, is lip service, as the EU policies are still geared towards the interests of the major industrial players.
The farmers’ organization Fugea expressed a similar view. The EU Commission would have to rethink and move away from liberal dogmas if it wanted to offer thousands of farms a future.
Related to the Brussels meeting of EU agriculture ministers yesterday, 5,000 Spanish farmers gathered for a massive protest in Madrid.
Otherwise, the protest by Polish farmers, who had been blocking the border crossing to Germany of the A2 highway, ended yesterday after a 24-hour action. More than 1,000 farmers with 500 tractors and 300 trucks and vans had blocked the Świecko-Frankfurt am Oder border in both directions. Traffic is now flowing since the protest action ended.
On the German side, there have also been protests by farmers and haulers since Sunday evening. They blocked the city bridge in Frankfurt am Oder and the Schwedt/Krajnik Dolny border crossing with tractors, vans, and trucks. These blockades also ended, as planned, yesterday.
