The rekindling of the anger of European farmers against Brussels

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency, citing the German newspaper “Tags Shaw”, in Greece, thousands of farmers went to Athens to demonstrate in front of the parliament against the agricultural policy of the government and the European Union. Demonstrations that have been going on for weeks have reached their peak with the siege in the center of this city yesterday.

Greek farmers, like other European countries, are complaining about their difficult economic situation. The sharp increase in the price of fuel and fertilizer, the high tax burden and bureaucratic obstacles have caused severe dissatisfaction among this group. Some farmers who came to the Greek capital with convoys of tractors and buses chanted “without We have nothing to eat!” They have blocked highways like other European countries for the past few weeks.

Greek farmers demanded lower taxes, discounts on electricity and fuel, and stricter import controls. In response to these protests, the Greek government announced that they had already given concessions on the price of electricity and diesel. The government has already announced that it will reduce energy costs for agricultural businesses and reduce the value added tax on fertilizers and animal feed from 13 to 6 percent. In an interview with Star on Monday, he said: “Besides, the Greek government has nothing left to give.” Mitsotakis went on to say that he understood why farmers wanted to hold a symbolic rally in the middle of Athens, of all places, and that he believed it was a conscious move coordinated with other European capitals.

The protests are also against bio regulations. The new environment is the European Union. In particular, these protests raise the issue of the “Green Deal”, which, according to the EU Commission, aims to create a transition to a modern, environmentally friendly and competitive economy. This will be achieved by zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, linking growth to the use of resources and limiting the use of chemicals.

The recent farmers’ protest is considered the culmination of Greece’s actions to date. . Farmers from all over the country arrived in Athens on Monday with tractors and buses. They even came by ship from the distant island of Crete. Other citizens, associations and groups also joined them in the demonstration. According to polls, 70% of people understand this protest. These rallies are expected to continue at least until Wednesday.

There were similar protests in Warsaw, Prague, as well as in Bucharest, Riga and Bratislava, and farmers across Eastern Europe are blocking border and entry crossings these days. They block highways because farmers do not agree with EU agricultural policy and strongly reject the so-called Green Deal. In addition, Eastern European farmers are protesting against the import of cheap agricultural products from Ukraine. During these protests, parts of the streets and roads in the direction of Warsaw, the capital of Poland, have been blocked The country – from northwestern Szczecin across Masuria to the Ukrainian border in southeastern Poland – tractors and trucks caused traffic jams that stretched for miles. Brussels, in particular, is seen as an enemy among Polish farmers.

The European Union, as part of the Green Deal, is committed to reducing the use of fertilizers and pesticides and calls for greater attention to ecosystems and Diversity in agriculture. The goal is to make the union climate neutral by 2050. What is still too little for climate activists in Europe is an extreme decision for farmers in the 27 member states. The EU is accused of too much bureaucracy, too much regulation, too much ideology and too little price stability. According to farmers, products become more expensive as a result of the green deal. In competition with products from outside the EU, this means a competitive disadvantage.

This is why a large part of the farmers’ protests in Eastern Europe are not necessarily against their own government, as in the demonstrations in Germany. It happened, but it is more against the “dictatorship of Brussels”, as the Polish farmers often say in their protest.

In this way, the anger against the value society of the West is palpable in the streets and squares of European countries. In Wroclaw, farmers threw eggs at the European Commission delegation, and the EU flag is often used as fuel, for example to set tires on fire. Poland’s new government, led by Donald Tusk, which is far more sympathetic to the EU, has failed to quell the protests in recent weeks. On the contrary: Farmers have announced nationwide protests in Europe from the Baltics to the Black Sea.

But it’s not just the EU’s green directives that are causing discontent in Poland. Several border crossings with Ukraine have been blocked for months. On the Polish side of the Medica crossing, trucks are stuck in a 42-kilometer roadblock. According to Polish customs, there are up to 550 trucks in front of the Dorohusk crossing, and the waiting time for clearance ranges from 5 to 14 days. Because Ukrainian agricultural products are significantly cheaper. Since the war, Ukrainian grain has been exported to the world market through neighboring Eastern European countries, as Russia has blocked the sea route, severely damaging the Ukrainian economy. The accusation of Poles and Hungarians is that many cheap Ukrainian products get stuck in Europe and never even make their way to Africa, America or Asia. Meanwhile, they can no longer sell Polish wheat.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also expressed concern about the protests of Polish farmers. According to him, the blockade of the border crossings was a fatal signal for the friendship between Ukraine and Poland; He literally spoke of the “erosion of solidarity.” Earlier, Polish farmers had dumped Ukrainian grain from a truck onto the highway – the mayor of Lviv called it “evil and scandalous”. The Greens of the European Union protested in the agricultural sector. According to the media, at the beginning of the week, a total of about 500 trucks and tractors drove to the Ministry of Agriculture in downtown Prague – in particular, the Minister of Agriculture, Mark Wirborny, was strongly criticized by farmers.

Czech farmers want more subsidies. and bureaucracy are less than their government. Cheaper Ukrainian grain is also highly sought after. However, there is less criticism of Ukrainian agricultural products in the Czech Republic than in countries that share a border with Ukraine, such as Slovakia or Romania.

Farmer protests have been taking place across Europe for months. These days the main roads in Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, France, Greece and Italy are also blocked by farmers.

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