Europe’s farming sector is facing a big crisis and must “profoundly” change its rules, Emmanuel Macron has said after a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels was overshadowed by protesting farmers hurling eggs, dumping manure and lighting fires.
Speaking as hundreds of farmers from Belgium, the Netherlands and elsewhere blocked streets around the European parliament with tractors, the French president said there should be a joint EU mechanism to guarantee fair prices paid to farmers by food giants and supermarkets. He said regulations should be simplified, after weeks of farmer protests across Europe have blockaded motorways.
Although agriculture had not been on the agenda of the leaders’ summit, the proximity and intensity of the spreading farmers’ protests made it impossible for politicians in Brussels to ignore.
Praising farmers’ “remarkable resilience”, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was working closely with EU member states “to address the immediate challenges”.
“To the farmers that are outside. We see you and we hear you,” said Roberta Metsola, the European parliament president.
After weeks in which farmers from Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and Greece protested, hundreds descended on Brussels on Thursday to put more pressure on European leaders to do more to help them with taxes, rising costs and environmental rules.
Main roads in the city were blocked by about 1,300 tractors and agricultural trucks emblazoned with slogans such as “No farmers, no food”. Palls of black smoke from a pyre of rubber tyres filled the air and at one point police were forced to hose down burning straw and manure that had been unceremoniously dumped in front of the parliament building.
“If you see how many people we are here today, and if you see it’s all over Europe, you must have hope,” Kevin Bertens, a Belgian farmer, told Reuters. “You need us. Help us.”
Pierre Sansdrap, a Belgian dairy farmer, told AFP that it was “symbolically important” to protest in Brussels. “To change things, you have to come here,” he said.
Farmers union representatives said they were “fed up in general” with “too much administration” and rules telling them how they should farm.
Olivier Devalckeneer, from the Fédération Wallonne d’Agriculture, said: “We want a change; we want farming to be protected, not undermined.”
Farmers in different European countries have said they are not being paid enough for their produce, are struggling with taxes and green rules and face unfair competition from abroad.
On Thursday, after the French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, announced a package of €150m (£128m) in aid for French farmers in need, two major farmers’ unions, the FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs, said they would tell their members to suspend protests and lift road blockades across the country.
Attal’s pledge followed several other government announcements made in recent weeks to help assuage farmers’ anger. In total the measures are worth €400m.
Arnaud Rousseau, chief of the biggest rural union FNSEA, on Thursday hailed “real progress” and said Attal was “listening … to try and understand what’s at stake for us”.
But the union chief said new protests could be held if “initial results” from the promises were not seen by the time France’s main agriculture trade fair opened at the end of this month.
One of the biggest concerns of farmers across the EU is a free-trade agreement with Latin American countries that has been in the making for about two decades but which is now coming under renewed pressure from European farmers, and, consequently, leaders. Farmers fear the Mercosur deal will lead to the European agricultural sector facing a new level of unfair competition.
“We want the EU to be aware of our situation. There are too many regulations, the salaries are not high enough and now we are facing imports because of the Mercosur deal where farmers don’t even have to have the same standards as us,” said Emile Herbiet, a Belgian blue cattle-breeder who had come to Brussels to protest on Thursday.
Speaking after the summit, Macron said he was against signing the Mercosur deal, not because he objected to it in principle but because it was outdated in its current form. He said: “All we are asking for is that the environmental and hygiene rules we impose on our farmers and other professions be the same. As of today, as the draft texts stand, France opposes and will continue to oppose this free-trade deal.”
Earlier, the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, had also said the deal should not go ahead in its current form. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, however, threw his weight behind the agreement, declaring himself a “big fan”.
Von der Leyen insisted farmers could continue to count on the EU, which devotes about a third of its budget to agriculture through the common agricultural policy (CAP).
“In 2023 alone, Europe provided exceptional assistance of over €500m to farmers most affected by crisis. We know that this support is crucial. And we know that farmers are making good use of it. But in parallel, the commission is now working closely with the member states to address the immediate challenges,” she said.
