Supported by a large part of the political class, French farmers did not stop for two weeks to obtain “concrete measures” from the government. On Thursday February 1, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced a plethora of measures which, according to him, meet “a large part of the expectations” of farmers. Among these is a strengthening of the EGalim laws, which aim to prevent producers from bearing the brunt of the fierce price war between supermarkets on the one hand, and distributors and suppliers of the agro-industry on the other.
For its part, the European Commission has committed to “reducing the administrative burden” of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) procedures. But, on the same day, Kristalina Georgieva, the general director of the International Monetary Fund, was concerned to see States extending aid instead of carrying out a “necessary” budgetary consolidation.
On Thursday, thousands of demonstrators came from several countries and some 1,200 tractors invaded the streets of Brussels, to echo the anger of the agricultural world across Europe. “This is not the Europe we want”, “let’s get food out of free trade”, “fewer standards”, chanted the demonstrators speaking French, Dutch, Italian or German.
A revolt that started in the Netherlands
The revolt of the agricultural world started, in June 2022, from the Netherlands, the world’s second largest exporter of food products behind the United States. A government plan to lower nitrogen emissions by reducing the country’s cattle herd has pushed thousands of Dutch farmers onto the streets. Driving their tractors, they blocked highways and protested in front of the homes of political leaders. Upside-down Dutch flags have become the symbol of their protest. After months of action, the revolt against the executive resulted in an electoral tidal wave of a young party bringing together farmers, the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), which made a strong entry in the Senate in March 2023.
German farmers, opposed to the gradual elimination of a tax advantage on diesel, blocked a ferry in early January in northern Germany with the Minister of the Economy, Robert Habeck, on board, who is worried about a “heating climate” in the country. Since then, German farmers have carried out numerous striking actions, such as the blocking on Monday of the traffic routes leading to several ports, including that of Hamburg. These actions are part of a massive mobilization movement by German farmers, who have been opposing for several weeks against the reform of taxation on agricultural diesel, which provides from 2026 for the removal of an exemption from which they benefited. They come after a period of failed negotiations between unions and government.
Also in recent weeks, impromptu demonstrations have taken place from Sicily to northern Italy and convoys of tractors blocking roads have been regularly reported, although the scale of the movement has not reached the level of farmer demonstrations in France, Germany and Belgium. Their demands range from complaints over European Union (EU) regulations to the impact of inflation and fuel costs.
“Unfair competition” from Ukraine
On Tuesday, Spain’s three main agricultural unions announced they were joining the angry movement of European farmers, with a series of “mobilizations” across the country over the “coming weeks.” 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’. Spain is, with France and Poland, one of the main European agricultural powers. The country, which produces a large part of the fruit and vegetables consumed within the EU, has however been facing a historic drought for three years, which has weakened many farms and caused harvests to fall, particularly olives and of cereals.
“Exasperation” has also spread, in recent months, to Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria, where producers essentially denounce “unfair competition” from Ukraine, accused of undercutting the price of its cereals. In the wake of the Russian offensive, the EU suspended, in May 2022, customs duties on all products imported from Ukraine, and created “solidarity corridors” to allow Kiev to transit its stocks of cereals. Except that a lot of food ended up accumulating among its European neighbors. Firmly opposed to this influx of wheat or corn, Bulgarian and Romanian farmers took out their tractors to block the border crossings with Ukraine. In Poland, protests led to the resignation in April 2023 of the Minister of Agriculture.
Almost everywhere in France, signs of relaxation have multiplied. At the call of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions and Young Farmers, the lifting of the blockades continued on Friday, after a series of government concessions. But, beyond France, European farmers are still not giving up and are calling for continued mobilizations.
