Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper), The Belgian farmers’ union FUGEA, the European farmers’ organization ECVC, and other farmers and agricultural workers from across Europe have once again taken to the streets of Brussels.
In a demo on 26 February, they claimed to be strongly supported by more than 40 civil society and workers’ organizations.
More than 1000 tractors gathered around the Schuman roundabout in Brussels as ministers met in the AGRIFISH council meeting just meters away.
Morgan Ody, a farmer in Brittany and member of ECVC, told this site: “Farmers’ mobilizations continue across Europe because policymakers have so far failed to listen to those who feed our populations in Europe and who are on the front line of climate crises.”
Ody said that farmers want to make a decent living from their work, and that means calling into question the European free trade policies that are responsible for the low and unstable prices at the root of farmers’ anger.
“Putting a stop to various measures aimed at protecting the environment is an easy solution that meets the needs of agribusiness players. Administrative simplification measures are necessary, but insufficient to guarantee an income for our farms.”
The FUGEA spokesman said the demands include:
- End free trade agreements and unfair competition, starting with the definitive end of EU-Mercosur agreement negotiations.
- Regulate markets and strengthen the directive on Unfair Trading Practices, using the Spanish food chain law as a positive example, to make it mandatory that prices paid to farmers cover production costs including a decent income, and to protect them from speculation.
- Ensure a sufficient budget and an equitable distribution of CAP aid to facilitate a fair transition towards agroecology and sustainable practices.
- Reduce the administrative burden for farmers.
- Stop the deregulation of GMOs/new genomic techniques.
