Farmer protest flares up in Brussels as tensions mount

European farmers have taken their protests to the EU headquarters in Brussels where bloc leaders are gathering for a summit, as EU-wide mass farmer protests extended to Belgium.

More than 1,000 tractors converged on the Belgian capital on Thursday 1 February, according to police estimates.

Furious farmers used hay bales to create blockades, started fires and clashed with riot police outside the European Parliament building as EU leaders met for a summit to discuss aid for Ukraine.

See also: European farmer protests place focus on British farming concerns

Farmers unveiled banners reading, “If you love the Earth, support those who manage it” and “No farmers, no food”, while others pelted the parliament building with eggs.

Other farmer protests are taking place across France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Greece.

Struggling European farmers are protesting against stringent environmental policies, taxes, red tape, low pay and low prices for their produce, rising costs and unfair competition from food imports.

They say this plethora of anti-farming policies is putting their livelihoods at risk and leading to the closure of farms.

Belgian farmers have also blocked roads into the Zeebrugge container port to protest against cheap imports.

The protests are already having some effect on EU policymakers.

The EU Commission announced plans on Wednesday 31 January to give farmers a one-year derogation from rules obliging them to keep certain areas of land non-productive (fallow).

EU farming lobby Copa-Cogeca said the decision “comes too late in the farming calendar” and “remains limited”.

Limits on Ukraine food imports

Meanwhile, Brussels has announced plans to limit certain imports from Ukraine into the EU, including poultry and sugar, over concerns they were undercutting EU farmers.

Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said: “Today’s measure offers additional flexibility to farmers at a time when they are dealing with multiple challenges.

“We will continue to engage with our farmers to ensure the CAP [Common Agricultural Policy] strikes the right balance between responding to their needs while continuing to deliver public goods for our citizens.”

In France, farmers are pressing on with their “siege” against the government and continue to block major roads in and out of Paris.

French police arrested almost 80 farmers who stormed the huge wholesale market at Rungis in the south of the capital.

Commenting on the European protests, the Northern Ireland farm lobby group Farmers For Action (FFA) NI said it “stands ready to support farmers currently protesting across the EU”.

FFA NI co-ordinator William Taylor urged farmers old and young to contact the organisation “when ready to protest safely in support”.

‘Protests can’t be ruled out’ – NFU

NFU president Minette Batters, in an interview with radio station LBC, said farmer protests like those in Europe  “could not be ruled out in the UK”.

Mrs Batters said it had been an “incredibly tough winter” for farmers, price pressures had been “enormous” and they were “really feeling the strain”.

She added: “We all know that ideally dialogue sorts things out best, but rights of freedom of speech and peaceful protest are fundamental to the democracy of this country.

“So, it’s [protests] not anything that could ever be ruled out.”

Mrs Batters said she would be “really concerned” about the impact of any British farmer protests on people’s daily lives.