INTL German Farmers Begin 8 Day Massive Protest Against Increased Government Taxation and Alarmist Climate Agenda

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Plain Jane

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Neil Oliver - The Davos Elites and Their Schemes for Control - The Last Refuge

For his weekly monologue, U.K pundit Neil Oliver outlines the insufferable “parasite class” of those who assemble in Davos at the World Economic Forum, and their agenda for control which morphs depending on opportunity. Indeed, the Davos/WEF favorite control narrative surrounds the...
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Neil Oliver – The Davos Elites and Their Schemes for Control​


January 21, 2024 | Sundance | 130 Comments
For his weekly monologue, U.K pundit Neil Oliver outlines the insufferable “parasite class” of those who assemble in Davos at the World Economic Forum, and their agenda for control which morphs depending on opportunity. Indeed, the Davos/WEF favorite control narrative surrounds the ever-changing theoretical climate doom and the subsequent holy grail of a carbon trading exchange they envision.

At a certain point, the revolting peasants look around and realize there are more of us than them, and that’s the exact moment when things in the Western alliance will get very sketchy. Factually, you can see in their words and espousals the Davos clan know this, so they construct all manner of instructions to their government beneficiaries in an effort to control the proles. WATCH:
R/T 10:00

View: https://youtu.be/Bu-UcNfer8I


In case you missed it, the Dutch, Poland and German farmers are now being joined by the Romanians and the French. Then again, why wouldn’t we miss it? After all, the Western media are avoiding any mention of the spreading discontent, lest the commoners start to organize an even wider pushback.

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s largest farm union FNSEA is considering nationwide protests in the coming weeks, a spokesperson said on Friday, potentially expanding action by farmers in the southwest who have blocked a highway and dumped manure on public buildings.

Like their German counterparts who held a massive demonstration over the weekend with tractors rumbling towards Berlin from every corner of the country, French farmers are mainly protesting against taxes and regulation.



The FSNEA will decide whether to organise nationwide action next Thursday after meeting local branch representatives and different farm sectors, the spokesperson said.

Hundreds of tractors and farmers from across southwest France have been protesting in the southwestern city of Toulouse this week, causing traffic jams.
On Friday they blocked the highway linking Toulouse to the Atlantic cost with a wall of hay.

Farmers cite a government tax on tractor fuel, cheap imports, water storage issues, excessive restrictions and red tape among their grievances.

FNSEA farmers have been turning around road signs at the entrance of towns and villages across the country – in 12,000 districts out of a total of 36,000 – to express their discontent in a campaign called “We are walking on our heads”.

The protests in the European Union’s biggest agricultural producer come at a time when President Emmanuel Macron is wary of farmers’ growing support for the far-right ahead of the European Parliament elections in June. (read more)



“We’d like to help, but we have a few problems of our own at the moment”….

Jan 18 (Reuters) – Romania’s government unveiled a first package of measures to aid farmers and truckers whose widening protests against high business costs have hit a border crossing with Ukraine and elsewhere in the country, local media reported on Thursday.

The more than week-long protests have blocked highways and snarled traffic in areas. Romanian farmers blocked a border crossing with Ukraine for a second time in as many days on Thursday.

The protests are against the high cost of diesel, insurance rates, European Union measures to protect the environment and pressures on the domestic market from imported Ukrainian agricultural goods. (more)



Then again, who needs farmers when the WEF plan is to leave the people of the West eating bugs.​

 
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Plain Jane

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Why Is The West's Mainstream Media Ignoring Europe's Farmers' Revolt? | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com www.zerohedge.com

Why Is The West's Mainstream Media Ignoring Europe's Farmers' Revolt?​


BY TYLER DURDEN
THURSDAY, JAN 25, 2024 - 03:30 AM
Via ReMix News,
Although the global media used all its weapons of opinion to make the “peasant war” that shook Germany seem nonexistent, the world was still treated to dramatic images of the mass farmers’ demonstrations through the new era of social media.



“No fuel, no food, no future” — that is the slogan most often used by German farmers, obviously in English because it was the only way to get mass exposure of their current plight.

However, you’d be forgiven for missing the protests raging across Germany — and in many other countries this past week, including Romania and France — due to the mainstream media’s apparent disinterest in the farming revolution, with producers seemingly given particularly strict instructions on what to, and what not to report.

The existence of protests unfolding throughout Europe appeared to be under some form of media embargo.

Perhaps it might be worth considering why.

It is true in general, but in post-WWII Europe in particular, which was in a rather dire situation, it has proven true many times over that food supply is perhaps an even more delicate and important strategic sector than heavy industry. Although in macro statistics, which give a false picture, agriculture’s share could be only a few percent, or even “negligible,” it is not only not negligible, but it turns out to be more important than anything imaginable.

The great peasant wars of the 15th and 16th centuries were fought for exactly the same reasons as today. In that century and a half, in addition to literally “pulling the rug out from under the peasantry,” the average peasant’s daily working hours doubled, and the income he received for those hours was cut in half. It is understandable (though not excusable) that the brutal cruelty of the somewhat frustrated peasant masses knew no bounds. Nor, indeed, did the reprisals that followed.

The global power economy and the collaborationist power structures of Europe, increasingly subordinated to it and forced into a pariah role, are now doing the same, shifting onto peasant society the costs of prolonging the agony of the U.S. world empire.

The outcome of the conflict is, as of yet, unpredictable, as the entire European system of domination is on the verge of collapse.

Just as the rebel leaders who led the peasant wars many centuries ago had no “adequate narrative” of what an acceptable settlement looked like, today, we are still living through a whirlwind of emotions, with little sign of an amicable solution being reached anytime soon.
 
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Plain Jane

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apnews.com

Protesting farmers heap pressure on new French prime minister ahead of hotly anticipated measures

Protesting farmers have shut down stretches of major French highways again, using their tractors to block and slow traffic to press their demands that growing and rearing food should be made easier and more lucrative.
apnews.com apnews.com

Protesting farmers heap pressure on new French prime minister ahead of hotly anticipated measures​


BY JOHN LEICESTER
Updated 1:44 PM EST, January 26, 2024
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PARIS (AP) — Protesting farmers shut down long stretches of some of France’s major highways again Friday, using tractors to block and slow traffic and squeeze the government ever more tightly to give in to their demands that growing and rearing food be made easier and more lucrative.

The farmers’ spreading movement for better remuneration for their produce, less red tape and lower costs, as well as protection against cheap imports is increasingly becoming a major crisis for the government. It echoes the 2018-2019 yellow vest demonstrations against economic injustice that rocked the first term of President Emmanuel Macron and lastingly dented his popularity.

This time, Macron’s new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, his mettle being sorely tested just two weeks into the job, is hoping to assuage and win over demonstrating farmers with a series of measures he announced during a visit to a cattle farm in southern France on Friday afternoon. They include “drastically simplifying” certain technical procedures “starting today.” Some of the measures will reduce 14 rules to one, Attal said.

In another move to placate farmers, he announced the progressive end to diesel fuel taxes for farm vehicles.

The prime minister, wearing a suit and tie and reading from notes that rested on a bale of hay, said the government has decided “to put agriculture above all,” words he repeated numerous times. In an apparent nod to the far right, he said the “marching order” is “to protect our heritage and identity” because French agriculture defines “who we are.”


“We have to open a new chapter, change the mentality ... firstly that of the state,” he said, before heading to one of the first farmers’ blockades for a first-hand encounter with the anger.

Ranged against the government has been the well-organized and media-savvy movement by determined farmers. Using their tractors and sometimes hay bales as barriers, they’ve been blocking and slowing traffic on major roads. They’ve also dumped stinky agricultural waste at the gates of government offices.

Highway operator Vinci Autoroutes said two highways that are usually busy thoroughfares for road traffic through southern France and into Spain, the A7 and A9, were closed Friday morning by farmers’ blockades for long stretches totaling nearly 400 kilometers (250 miles). Blockades also severed more than a dozen other highways, Vinci said. Tractors also blocked some major roads leading toward Paris.

Farmer Nicolas Gallepin, who took part in a demonstration in his tractor at a traffic circle south of Paris this week, said thickets of regulations that govern how food can be produced are swallowing up chunks of his time and that fuel costs are eating into his bottom line.

“We’ve seen, in the last 10 years, one good year in 2022, but that’s it. We’ve not been paid what we deserve in 10 years,” he said. “What really hurts us is competing imports from other countries that don’t comply with the same regulations.”

The yellow vest protests held France in their grip for months, starting among provincial workers camped out at traffic circles to protest fuel taxes and subsequently snowballing into a nationwide challenge to Macron’s government. Likewise, farmers initially vented their anger more modestly, turning road signs upside down to protest what they argue are nonsensical agricultural policies.

But their grievances were largely unheard before they started to grab headlines in recent weeks with traffic blockades and other protests.

More widely, the unrest in France is are also symptomatic of discontent in agricultural heartlands across the European Union. The influential and heavily subsidized sector is becoming a hot-button issue ahead of European Parliament elections in June.

Populist and far-right parties are hoping to make hay from rural disgruntlement against free trade agreements, burdensome costs worsened by Russia’s war in Ukraine and other complaints.

Associated Press writer Elaine Ganley in Paris and videojournalist Nicolas Garriga in Auvernaux, France contributed to this report.
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
Was looking at a video on YouTube and it seems the dictators in Germany wants to ban a political party they see as a threat that wants to break away from the European Union.
 
Red Baron

Red Baron

Paleo-Conservative
_______________
Publius said:
Was looking at a video on YouTube and it seems the dictators in Germany wants to ban a political party they see as a threat that wants to break away from the European Union.
Click to expand...
AfD

Alternative for Deutschland is the party. It is rapidly gaining support especially in Bavaria.

wiki,

Alternative for Germany (German: Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; German pronunciation: [aːʔɛfˈdeː] ⓘ) is a right-wing populist political party in Germany.[3][4] AfD is known for its Euroscepticism,[5] as well as for opposing immigration to Germany.[6] As a right-wing party, AfD is commonly positioned on the radical right, a subset of the far-right, within the family of European political parties that does not oppose democracy.[7]
 
Last edited:
Red Baron

Red Baron

Paleo-Conservative
_______________
Cacheman said:
If I'm not mistake AfD wants to send all the cultural enrichers back where they came from?
Click to expand...
wiki,

The AfD is broadly considered to be a right-wing and national-conservative movement in both socioeconomic and sociocultural terms. AfD's policy brief and mission statement seeks to define the party as both liberal and conservative, with an emphasis on protecting sovereignty, Western identity, and German culture in what it calls a "peaceful, democratic and sovereign nation-state of the German people."[145] Political scientists and journalists have also described the AfD as synonymous with opposition to immigration, Euroscepticism, and holding a nationalist bent, with various shades of German nationalism from civic nationalism to hardline sentiments visible in the party. Other commentators have categorized it as a radical right populist party[146] or as "a typical radical right-wing populist party", with an emphasis on nativism.[27] Within its elected representation and grassroots membership, AfD has grown to contain interparty factions that range from more moderate conservatives to radicals.[147][148]
 
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Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane
apnews.com

French farmers vow to continue protesting despite the government's offer of concessions

French farmers have threatened to converge on Paris in the coming days to show their anger. Traffic barricades across the country have only been partially lifted Saturday.
apnews.com apnews.com

French farmers vow to continue protesting despite the government’s offer of concessions​



People watch slurry, manure and tyres dumped by farmers at the entrance of the local state administration building, in Agen, southwestern France, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. French farmers have vowed to continue protesting and are maintaining traffic barricades on some of the country's major roads. The government announced a series of measures Friday but the farmers say these do not fully address their demands. (AP Photo/Fred Scheiber)

4 of 4 |
People watch slurry, manure and tyres dumped by farmers at the entrance of the local state administration building, in Agen, southwestern France, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. French farmers have vowed to continue protesting and are maintaining traffic barricades on some of the country’s major roads. The government announced a series of measures Friday but the farmers say these do not fully address their demands. (AP Photo/Fred Scheiber)
Read More


BY SYLVIE CORBET
Updated 12:44 PM EST, January 27, 2024
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PARIS (AP) — Angry French farmers Saturday threatened to converge on Paris in the coming days as traffic barricades were only partially lifted on the country’s major roads. The developments came a day after the government announced a series of measures the farmers said do not fully address their demands.

The farmers’ movement, seeking better remuneration for their produce, less red tape and protection against cheap imports has spread in recent days across the country, with protesters using their tractors to shut down long stretches of road and slow traffic. They’ve also dumped stinky agricultural waste at the gates of government offices.

While some of the barricades were gradually being lifted on Saturday, highway operator Vinci Autoroutes said the A7, a major highway heading through southern France, was still closed. Some other roads were also partially closed, mostly in southern France.

Vinci Autoroutes noted that the blockades on two highways leading to Paris have been removed, as well as on the major route to Spain. The highway from Lyon, in eastern France, to Bordeaux, in the southwest, also been reopened on Saturday, the company said in a statement.

Near southwestern Agen, where the protests originated, the A62 highway was closed Saturday, with farmers gathering around fires fed by wooden pallets. One of the parked tractors was carrying a poster reading “We won’t die without saying a word.”



In Agen’s city center, a plaza close to the prefecture building still looked like an open-air dump, after protesters on Friday heaped tires, hay, manure and pieces of wood.

Some angry farmers were planning to give a new boost to the mobilization next week, threatening to block traffic around Paris for several days, starting Sunday evening.

José Pérez, co-president of the Rural Coordination union in the Lot-et-Garonne region, told news broadcaster BFM that his group will head toward Paris on Monday. Their aim is to “block” the Rungis International Market that supplies the capital and surrounding region with much of its fresh food, he said.

President Emmanuel Macron’s new prime minister, Gabriel Attal, announced a series of measures Friday during a visit to a cattle farm in southern France. They include “drastically simplifying” certain technical procedures and the progressive end to diesel fuel taxes for farm vehicles, he said.

Attal also confirmed that France would remain opposed to the European Union signing a free-trade deal with the Mercosur trade group, as French farmers denounce what they see as unfair competition from Latin American countries. The agreement has been under under negotiation for years.

In response to Attal’s announcement, France’s two major farmers unions quickly announced their decision to continue the protests, saying the government’s plan doesn’t go far enough.

Several thousand people gathered Saturday in the town of Pamiers in the Ariege region in the Pyrenees mountains to pay tribute to a 36-year-old female farmer and her 12-year-old daughter who were killed at a roadblock when a car rammed into a barricade of hay bales on Tuesday.

The protests in France are also symptomatic of discontent in agricultural heartlands across the European Union. The influential and heavily subsidized sector is becoming a hot-button issue ahead of European Parliament elections in June, with populist and far-right parties hoping to benefit from rural disgruntlement against free trade agreements, burdensome costs worsened by Russia’s war in Ukraine and other complaints.

In recent weeks, farmers have staged protests in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania.
 
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Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane
So-called climate activists are going to mess this up.

apnews.com

French farmers aim to put Paris 'under siege' in tractor protest. Activists hurl soup at 'Mona Lisa'

France’s interior ministry has ordered a large deployment of security forces around Paris as angry farmers threatened to head toward the capital.
apnews.com apnews.com

French farmers aim to put Paris ‘under siege’ in tractor protest. Activists hurl soup at ‘Mona Lisa’​




BY SYLVIE CORBET
Updated 5:06 PM EST, January 28, 2024
Share
PARIS (AP) — France’s interior ministry on Sunday ordered a large deployment of security forces around Paris as angry farmers threatened to head toward the capital, hours after climate activists hurled soup at the glass protecting the “Mona Lisa” painting at the Louvre Museum.

French farmers are putting pressure on the government to respond to their demands for better remuneration for their produce, less red tape and protection against cheap imports.

Speaking after an emergency meeting on Sunday evening, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 15,000 police officers are being deployed, mostly in the Paris region.


Darmanin said he ordered security forces to “prevent any blockade” of Rungis International Market — which supplies the capital and surrounding region with much of its fresh food — and the Paris airports as well as to ban any convoy of farmers from entering the capital and any other big city. He said that helicopters will monitor convoys of tractors.

Farmers block a highway, near Agen, southwestern France, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. French farmers have vowed to continue protesting and are maintaining traffic barricades on some of the country's major roads. The government announced a series of measures Friday but the farmers say these do not fully address their demands. (AP Photo/Fred Scheiber)

Farmers block a highway, near Agen, southwestern France, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. French farmers have vowed to continue protesting and are maintaining traffic barricades on some of the country’s major roads. The government announced a series of measures Friday but the farmers say these do not fully address their demands. (AP Photo/Fred Scheiber)
Read More


Darmanin said possibly all eight highways heading to Paris will be blocked Monday from midday and urged car and truck drivers to “anticipate” blockades. “Difficulties will obviously be very important,” he said.

Farmers of the Rural Coordination union in the Lot-et-Garonne region, where the protests originated, said they plan to use their tractors Monday to head toward the Rungis International Market.

France’s two biggest farmers unions said in a statement that their members based in areas surrounding the Paris region would seek to block all major roads to the capital, with the aim of putting the city “under siege,” starting Monday afternoon.

Earlier on Sunday, two climate activists hurled soup at the glass protecting the “Mona Lisa” in the Louvre museum and shouted slogans advocating for a sustainable food system.

A farmer drives his tractor on a highway, near Agen, southwestern France, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. French farmers have vowed to continue protesting and are maintaining traffic barricades on some of the country's major roads. The government announced a series of measures Friday but the farmers say these do not fully address their demands. (AP Photo/Fred Scheiber)

A farmer drives his tractor on a highway, near Agen, southwestern France, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. French farmers have vowed to continue protesting and are maintaining traffic barricades on some of the country’s major roads. The government announced a series of measures Friday but the farmers say these do not fully address their demands. (AP Photo/Fred Scheiber)
Read More
In a video posted on social media, two women with the words “FOOD RIPOSTE” written on their T-shirts could be seen passing under a security barrier to get closer to the painting and throwing soup at the glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece.

“What’s the most important thing?” they shouted. “Art, or right to a healthy and sustainable food?”

“Our farming system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work,” they added.

Louvre employees could then be seen putting black panels in front of the Mona Lisa and asking visitors to evacuate the room.

In this grab taken from video, activists react after throwing soup at the glass protecting the Mona Lisa, at the Louvre Museum, Paris, Sunday. Jan. 28, 2024, shouting slogans advocating for a sustainable food system. It comes as French farmers have been protesting for days across the country against several issues, including low wages. (AP Photo/Clement Lanot)

In this grab taken from video, activists react after throwing soup at the glass protecting the Mona Lisa, at the Louvre Museum, Paris, Sunday. Jan. 28, 2024, shouting slogans advocating for a sustainable food system. It comes as French farmers have been protesting for days across the country against several issues, including low wages. (AP Photo/Clement Lanot)
Read More
Paris police said that two people were arrested following the incident.

On its website, the “Food Riposte” group said the French government is breaking its climate commitments and called for the equivalent of the country’s state-sponsored health care system to be put in place to give people better access to healthy food while providing farmers a decent income.

Angry French farmers have been using their tractors for days to set up road blockades and slow traffic across France. They also dumped stinky agricultural waste at the gates of government offices.

On Friday, the government announced a series of measures that farmers said don’t fully address their demands. Those include “drastically simplifying” certain technical procedures and the progressive end to diesel fuel taxes for farm vehicles.

France’s new prime minister, Gabriel Attal, visited a farm on Sunday in the central region of Indre-et-Loire. He acknowledged that farmers are in a difficult position because “on the one side we say ‘we need quality’ and on the other side ’we want ever-lower prices.’”

“What’s at stake is finding solutions in the short, middle and long term,” he said, “because we need our farmers.”

Attal also said his government is considering “additional” measures against what he called “unfair competition” from other countries that have different production rules and are importing food to France.

He promised “other decisions” to be made in the coming weeks to address farmers’ concerns.
 
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Dash

Veteran Member

Paris 'under siege' by angry farmers as 15,000 police officers deployed​

Amid an ongoing and escalating farmers' protest in France, Paris tightens security in anticipation of an extended "siege," while tractors disrupt key routes.​

10:35, Mon, Jan 29, 2024 | UPDATED: 10:38, Mon, Jan 29, 2024
french police in Rungis

French Police armoured vehicles are stationed at the entrance of Rungis city (Image: Yoan Valat/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock )

As the farmers' protest in France continues, Paris is on high alert today (January 29) with plans for an extended "siege" of the capital. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has implemented a robust defensive system to prevent blockades at Rungis market and Paris airports.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, in response to the farmers' protests, has reiterated the government's commitment to swift and comprehensive action.
Due to the threat posed by the protest, 15,000 police officers have been deployed to thwart tractors entering Paris and to maintain security at strategic locations.
Farmers, grappling with falling incomes, administrative complexities, inflation, and foreign competition, persist in demanding substantial policy changes.
FRANCE-AGRICULTURE-PROTEST

French farmers prepare to leave in a convoy from Boe, near Agen, southwestern France (Image: Getty)

In a note sent to Express.co.uk last week, Véronique Le Floc'h, President of Coordination Rurale, a French farming group, expressed the frustrations of French farmers.
She said: "French farmers are united in their opposition to absurd, extreme, and unworkable environmental policies dreamt up by the EU and zealously implemented by the Macron government." Le Floc'h accused European elites of burdening farmers with increasingly demanding environmental regulations while seeking cheap imports from foreign producers who are not held to the same standards.
She further stressed the need for fair competition and called for an immediate halt to the signing of free trade agreements until a new approach to EU regulation is agreed upon.
She added: "French farmers are determined to protect Europe against unfair competition and ensure food security for France and Europe, but the ideologically driven measures imposed by EU and French elites are making this impossible."
FRANCE-AGRICULTURE-PROTEST

A French farmer places a French flag on his tractor as a convoy prepares to leave from Boe (Image: Getty)

Emmanuel Macron's opponents are seizing on the farmers' demonstrations to bash his government's record ahead of European elections in June. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose National Rally party is polling strongly, blamed free-trade agreements, imports and bureaucracy for farmers' economic woes.
"The worst enemies of farmers are to be found in this government," she said Thursday.
Roads hit Thursday morning by drive-slows included a highway west of the French capital and seat of power.

"We are getting progressively closer to Paris," farmer David Lavenant said to broadcaster BFM-TV. Two agricultural unions called for farmers to converge on highways into the city on Friday to blockade it.
Highway operator Vinci reported blockages on 14 of the motorways that it operates, on Thursday, as well as disruptions on others. Attention-grabbing protests elsewhere included a supermarket being showered with a thick jet of pig slurry.
European Union: ''We recognize Bosnia and Herzegovina as a single, indivisible and sovereign state in the EU''

Ursula von der Leyen opened a discussion panel to try to put farming on a new footing (Image: Getty)

Protest leaders said farmers would closely scrutinise measures expected Friday from the government in response to their demands before deciding on next steps.
"The determination is total," said Arnaud Rousseau, the FNSEA president. "We expect urgent measures."
In Brussels, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen opened a discussion panel to try to put farming on a new footing, hoping to take into account some of the complaints raised by protesters around the 27-nation bloc.
The so-called strategic dialogue comes as campaigning for the June 6-9 EU parliamentary elections is picking up steam and the fate of the farm sector is expected to be a hot-button issue.
"We all agree that the challenges are, without any question, mounting," said von der Leyen, be it "competition from abroad, be it overregulation at home, be it climate change, or the loss of biodiversity, or be a demographic decline, just to name a few of the challenges".

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In Belgium, protesters are also showing no signs of abating, with tractors entering Brussels and blockades on major routes causing widespread disruptions.
Key highways and border crossings remain closed, impacting travel across provinces. Hugues Falys, spokesperson for FUGEA, emphasised the enduring economic strain on farmers, calling for more protective measures and criticising the incoherence of European policies.
The FUGEA continues its planned actions before the cabinets of concerned ministers, seeking change through the Belgian Council of Ministers' influence at the ongoing European level.

Paris 'under siege' by angry farmers as 15,000 police officers deployed
 
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Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane
www.bbc.com

Why Europe's farmers are taking their anger to the streets

Europe is swept by a wave of protests by farmers, who blame EU policies for their hardship.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com

Why Europe's farmers are taking their anger to the streets​

26th January 2024, 07:58 EST
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By Laura GozziBBC News
REUTERS/Nacho Doce French farmers block the A64 highway with their tractors to protest over price pressures, taxes and green regulation, grievances shared by farmers across Europe, in Carbonne, south of Toulouse
REUTERS/Nacho Doce
Farmers in France blocked several motorways on Friday as they stepped up their challenge to the new prime minister
Across Europe, tens of thousands of farmers have downed tools, mounted their tractors and taken to the streets.

They were already struggling with the cost of living crisis and they have now come out in force to air their grievances, from the European Union's sustainability policies to the effects of the war in Ukraine.

In France, farmers have blocked large stretches of motorways, creating a crisis for new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who travelled to a farm in the south-west to offer a string of measures in a bid to soothe their frustration.

Some of their concerns, such as burgeoning bureaucracy, have a national character; others point to wider issues, including the increasing cost of farm diesel, late payment of EU subsidies, or competition from imports.

Farmers say it is a fight for survival and they won't stop now.


Earlier this week a young farmer, Alexandra Sonac, and her 12-year-old daughter were killed when a car crashed into a farmers' roadblock south of Toulouse. Only the day before, Ms Sonac told French radio she was joining the protests to "defend her profession" and look after her daughters.

Protests have also spiralled across much of Germany, although they have a primarily national character. Farmers are angry with the phasing out of tax breaks on agricultural diesel, which they say would lead them to bankruptcy.

CLEMENS BILAN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Demonstrators, leaving a rally, walk with drums in front of the Brandenburg Gate during a nationwide farmers' strike in Berlin, Germany, 15 January 2024
CLEMENS BILAN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
German farmers staged a week of national strikes earlier this month
But, across Europe, discontent is often fuelled by anger with EU policies.

The agricultural sector has always viewed with suspicion measures brought in by the EU to revamp its €55bn (£47bn) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and make it more sustainable. More than 70% of that money is spent on direct payments to farmers as a safety net.


The revamp includes an obligation to devote at least 4% of arable land to non-productive features, as well as a requirement to carry out crop rotations and reduce fertiliser use by at least 20%.

Many farmers have long argued these measures will make the European agricultural sector less competitive against imports.

They are also worried that inflation has dramatically reduced the value of their direct payments.

"Farmers are having to do much more... with less support," Luc Vernet of Brussels-based think tank Farm Europe told the BBC. "They don't see how they can cope any longer."

In some countries, the protests are nothing new.


Demonstrations first broke out in the Netherlands in 2019 over government demands that livestock production be halved in order to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.

And Brussels residents have long been used to farmers entering the city's European quarter to spray buildings with milk or fill the streets with cattle in protest at EU agricultural regulations.

Reuters/Yves Herman A cow figure hangs from a vehicle, as French farmers stage a protest near the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium January 24, 2024
Reuters/Yves Herman
The European Parliament was treated to another farmers' protest this week.

Now, though, the ripple effect of war in Ukraine has brought protests to almost every corner of Europe.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 all but blocked off trade routes in the Black Sea. The EU stepped in by temporarily lifting restrictions on imports from Ukraine - allowing its agricultural produce to flood European markets.


The playing field was never going to be even: an average Ukrainian organic farm is about 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres); its European equivalents measure on average only 41 hectares.

Prices in neighbouring countries such as Hungary, Poland and Romania were suddenly pushed down, and local farmers were left unable to sell their crops.

By spring 2023, tractors were blocking the same Polish roads that had been lined with volunteers welcoming Ukrainians refugees a year before.

The EU soon imposed trade restrictions on Ukraine's exports to its neighbours, but only for a limited period. When the ban expired, the governments in Budapest, Warsaw and Bratislava announced their own restrictions.

Ukraine promptly filed a lawsuit; relations soured and compassion for a country defending itself from Russia's invasion took a backseat.

Now, Eastern European countries are demanding the EU definitively revises its trade liberalisation measures with Ukraine.

In Romania, where farmers and hauliers have been protesting against the high price of diesel, insurance rates and EU measures, as well as competition from Ukraine, news outlet Kronika said this month that the EU letting in cheap Ukrainian goods was "like a non-swimmer trying to save a drowning person. They both drown".

In Poland, farmers kicked off a nationwide protest on 24 January against Ukrainian agricultural imports.

"Ukrainian grain should go where it belongs, to the Asian or African markets, not to Europe," said Adrian Wawrzyniak, a spokesperson for the Polish farmers' trade union, told Polish media. Similar sentiments are being echoed in Slovakia and Hungary.

Southern Europe has so far been spared the brunt of the protests, but things may change soon. Christiane Lambert, the president of the Committee of Professional Agricultural Organizations (COPA), Europe's leading farmers' union, has predicted that Italian and Spanish farmers will soon stage their own protests.

They are unaffected by the war in Ukraine, but are vulnerable to climate change, as the Spanish and Portuguese governments consider emergency restrictions on water usage in some regions because of intense drought.

In Sicily this week, farmers blocked roads in protest at the regional government, which they say has failed to compensate them for last summer's prolonged, intense heatwave and drought. "We're on our knees, the drought has halved our harvest," farmer Giuseppe Gulli told Rai News. He also accused the EU of helping "big corporations".

With European elections around the corner in June, Eurosceptic parties are finding a voice.

Jordan Bardella of France's National Rally has been spotted among protesters; the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has sought to champion the farmers' cause too.

But Mr Vernet batted off these concerns: "Farmers are not extremists. In fact, farmers in Europe are the first Europeans, because they're the ones who know best how important Europe is for them."

In Germany, ministers have scrambled to water down the proposals to end farmers' tax breaks on agricultural diesel that had caused uproar.

The change is now set to be phased in over time - but farmers want the subsidy cuts scrapped in full. "Everything that has been announced so far has further increased the farmers' anger instead of calming it down," said German Farmers' Association President Joachim Rukwied.

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has promised to meet Ukrainian representatives in early March to come to a deal to regulate the transit and export of products.

The EU appears to have already taken note.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has admitted "there is an increasing division and polarisation", and has launched a "strategic dialogue" between agriculture groups and EU decision-makers.

The language is self-reflective, but also vague. And for farmers across Europe who feel forgotten, betrayed or unable to feed their families, it is unlikely to be enough.
 
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Europe Erupts In Widespread Farmer Protests As Revolt Against 'Green' Policies Intensifies | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
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Europe Erupts In Widespread Farmer Protests As Revolt Against 'Green' Policies Intensifies​


BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, JAN 31, 2024 - 08:50 AM
Farmers in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Romania, and other countries across Europe are protesting radical leftist governments by obstructing major transport networks with tractors. This widespread populist movement is sweeping Europe at a time when over-regulation, taxes, and the climate change agenda threaten the livelihoods of not just farmers but working-class people and comes several months before the European election cycle kicks off in June.

Some countries hit hardest by protests have been Germany, Italy, Belgium, and France. Protests are expected to spread to Spain and Portugal.

On Tuesday, France's new prime minister, Gabriel Attal, promised farmers emergency funds and stricter trade controls on foreign products to guarantee fair competition.


However, that might not have been enough, as the farmer's union in France was unimpressed by concessions offered by the French government. They encouraged their members to continue the fight.

"I'm so proud of you," Serge Bousquet-Cassagne, head of Lot-et-Garonne department's farmer's association, told protesters in the south of Paris.

Bousquet-Cassagne said:

"You are fighting this battle because if we don't fight we die."
Click to expand...
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told local TV station France 2 that police were preparing to defend strategic areas of larger cities.

"They can't attack police, they can't enter Rungis, they can't enter the Paris airports or the center of Paris," said Darmanin, adding, "But let me tell you again that if they try, we will be there."
Click to expand...
According to Armstrong Economics:


Farmers throughout the world have been protesting the increasing regulations on agriculture. The media is barely covering the story, and when they do mention it, they say that the farmers are protesting due to Russia blocking supplies from Ukraine. This is simply untrue. The farmers are protesting against over-regulation, taxes, and the climate change agenda that is making it increasingly difficult for them to make a successful living.
Click to expand...
EU farmers' complaints are very basic:

  • Out-of-control energy prices (thank whoever blew up the Nord Stream).
  • Disastours carbon-cutting targets.
  • Overall inflation.
  • Bureaucracy from radicals in Brussels.
  • Ukrainian grain imports.
The demonstrations, which could soon consume Europe, come ahead of the June European Parliament elections.

Here are scenes on the ground as protests spread across Europe:

(There are a lot of tweets at the link. I'm posting only a couple.)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1752663666917261400
View: https://twitter.com/saileash/status/1752663666917261400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1752663666917261400%7Ctwgr%5E71494fdd70ceb2ca1f1ddc351471aed007219fc5%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Feurope-erupts-widespread-farmer-protests-revolt-against-green-policies


https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1752068601358479808
View: https://twitter.com/Demo2020cracy/status/1752068601358479808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1752068601358479808%7Ctwgr%5E71494fdd70ceb2ca1f1ddc351471aed007219fc5%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Feurope-erupts-widespread-farmer-protests-revolt-against-green-policies


Small farmers are upset that WEF elites such as Bill Gates, linked to the World Economic Forum, aim to reset the global food supply chain, a move that could render small-scale farming obsolete.



And discontent is quickly spreading across the West. As we noted earlier this week: "Mess In The West: 'Army Of God' Convoy Heads To US Border While EU Farmers Block Cities."

Unrest in the West is a symptom that leftist politicians are completely out of touch with the common man. Quickly, queue the next crisis. Is that the eruption of war or another virus?
 
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Chaos Erupts In Brussels As Rubber Bullets Fired At Farmers Protesting Outside EU Parliament | ZeroHedge

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Chaos Erupts In Brussels As Rubber Bullets Fired At Farmers Protesting Outside EU Parliament​


BY TYLER DURDEN
THURSDAY, FEB 01, 2024 - 10:35 AM
Rubber bullets and water cannons were deployed against hundreds of European farmers protesting outside the EU Parliament building in Brussels on Thursday. The farmers threw eggs, set off fireworks, and started fires near the building while demanding that European leaders stop punishing them with more taxes and rising costs imposed to finance a so-called 'green agenda.'
Photo via @daniel_freund Dirk Waem/AFP/Getty


The protests coincide with a Thursday summit of EU leaders, with the farmers calling on them to scrap agricultural and environmental regulations implemented by leadership in Brussels.


According to reports, farmers have broken through the barricades outside of Parliament and also ignited smoke bombs.

Photo: Thomas Padilla, AP

"We want to stop these crazy laws that come every single day from the European Commission," said Jose Maria Castilla, a farmer in Brussels representing the Spanish farmers' union, Asaja.

Tractors line the streets in Brussels (Hatim Kaghat/AFP/Getty)

The protests come as EU leaders met to discuss a $50 billion aid package for Ukraine. Belgian PM Alexander De Croo said that the farmers' concerns would be added to the summit's agenda, saying "It is important that we listen to them," adding "They face gigantic challenges," the Washington Post reports.

A woman walks in between tractors parked in the European district of Brussels (Dirk Waem/AFP/Getty)
The growing unrest over Europe's punishment of farmers has also been seen in Italy, Portugal, France, Greece and Germany, as farmers express outrage over green regulations and cheap imports.







https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1752966342200733882
View: https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1752966342200733882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1752966342200733882%7Ctwgr%5Ecfbeac1cedc38edbce0f43793a394a03a8d623ff%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fchaos-erupts-brussels-rubber-bullets-fired-farmers-protesting-outside-eu-parliament




https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1753048444141543526
View: https://twitter.com/iamtabish_khan/status/1753048444141543526?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1753048444141543526%7Ctwgr%5Ecfbeac1cedc38edbce0f43793a394a03a8d623ff%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fchaos-erupts-brussels-rubber-bullets-fired-farmers-protesting-outside-eu-parliament
 
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theconservativetreehouse.com

EU Farmers Escalate Protests - France Concedes to Demands - The Last Refuge

The popular farmer and trucker protests in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Romania, France and now Belgium are continuing. Sensing the problematic nature of the uprising, watching the protests escalate to direct confrontation at parliament, and facing considerable political opposition on many...
theconservativetreehouse.com theconservativetreehouse.com

EU Farmers Escalate Protests – France Concedes to Demands​

February 1, 2024 | Sundance | 102 Comments
The popular farmer and trucker protests in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Romania, France and now Belgium are continuing.

Sensing the problematic nature of the uprising, watching the protests escalate to direct confrontation at parliament, and facing considerable political opposition on many domestic issues, the French government of Emmanuel Macron has agreed to the terms of the French farmers. However, the two major labor unions associated with the farmers in France are not asking for the protests to stop until they see the agreement of the French government in writing.

Protesting farmers blockaded multiple roads and camped outside the European parliament building in Brussels on Thursday, ahead of a EU leaders’ summit in the Belgian capital. The demonstrators lit two fires outside and placed their tractors in front of the European parliament building. Farmers have been protesting across Europe against the globalist agenda, rising costs in the agriculture sector and targeted taxes by the various governments.

R/T 1:10

View: https://youtu.be/BSJPibh8U7c


(Associated Press) – France’s two major farmers unions announced they would lift country-wide blockades Thursday, shortly after the prime minister introduced new measures aimed at protecting their livelihoods that they described as “tangible progress.”

However, farmer activists who have snarled traffic along major highways around Paris said they would stay put at least another day to see the government commitments in writing, and both unions said they would closely monitor any government implementation.

“We don’t want to hear words of love. What we want is proof of love,” said Thierry Desforges, a farm union member at road blockade of the A6 highway in Chilly-Mazarin, south of Paris.



Thousands of French farmers have been demonstrating for a couple of weeks across the country in protests over low earnings, heavy regulation and what they call unfair competition from abroad. Similar protests also have extended across Europe, including at the European Union headquarters in Brussels.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, whose earlier promises to address farmers’ issues had failed to quell the French protests, announced a new set of measures Thursday.

They included tens of millions of euros in aid, tax breaks and a promise not to ban pesticides in France that are allowed elsewhere in Europe — which French farmers say leads to unfair competition. Attal also said France would immediately ban imports from outside the EU that use a pesticide banned in the bloc.

Arnaud Rousseau, president of France’s biggest farmers union FNSEA, and Young Farmers union President Arnaud Gaillot said Thursday that they were calling on their members to suspend the protests.

[…] At the Chilly-Mazarin blockade, Damien Greffin, a FNSEA representative, said farmers still need time to “better analyze the measures” as some appeared to him “a bit deceptive.”

Desforges, a fellow FNSEA member, remained cautious about proposals that concern the EU because “we know how Europe works, the countries still need to agree.”

Regarding domestic proposals, “we really need to wait and see if they are turned into law,” Desforges added. (read more)



https://theconservativetreehouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/fireworks-3.jpg
 
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Now we have Greece.

apnews.com

As Europe’s farmers find common cause in grievances, governments race to offer concessions

Greece’s annual Agrotica trade fair traditionally gives farmers a chance see the latest equipment and agricultural innovations.
apnews.com apnews.com

https://apnews.com/article/europe-farmers-protests-eu-concessions-73c6329573a6a058d88ec1cd8e0284b4#

As Europe’s farmers find common cause in grievances, governments race to offer concessions​

BY DEREK GATOPOULOS AND COSTAS KANTOURIS
Updated 12:17 PM EST, February 2, 2024
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THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greece’s annual Agrotica trade fair traditionally gives farmers a chance see the latest equipment and agricultural innovations. This year, the event is a focal point for their long-standing frustrations.

Tractors lined up Friday around the conference center hosting the event in the northern city of Thessaloniki to underline their determination to escalate protests over rising production costs by blocking highways.

In recent months, similar protests have swept Europe as farmers on the continent take their grievances over inflation, foreign competition and the costs of combating climate change to the streets.


National leaders, seeking to calm the essential sector of their economies after the turmoil caused by the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, are racing to offer financial concessions in the months before elections for the European Union parliament in June.

Here’s a look at the status of the protests and what they have resulted in so far.


FURY IN BRUSSELS​

Farmers took their protests to the heart of the EU on Thursday, blocking streets in Brussels with hundreds of tractors as black smoke billowed from burning tires and the leaders of the bloc’s 27 member nations held a summit.

The response to the protest was immediate: The EU’s executive commission announced plans to shield farmers from cheaper products exported from wartime Ukraine and to allow farmers to use some land they had been required to keep fallow for environmental reasons.

The plans, which still need approval from member states and the European Parliament, amounted to a sudden and symbolic concession.

“I just would like to reassure them that we do our utmost to listen to their concerns. I think we are addressing two very important (concerns) of them right now,” European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said.

PARIS ROADBLOCKS LIFTED​

In Paris, which is preparing to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, farmers are dismantling roadblocks and other barricades after the government promised more than 400 million euros ($436 million) in additional financial support.

Convoys of tractors are heading home after farmers halted their protests along major highways near the French capital, preventing a potential confrontation with the heavily deployed police. The emergency relief measures targeted mounting complaints over low earnings, heavy regulation and unfair competition from abroad.

ITALY POINTS A FINGER AT EU POLICIES​

Italy’s right-wing premier, Giorgia Meloni, has blamed the EU’s allegedly “ideological approach” to agriculture and climate policies for the financial hardships of her country’s farmers.

She said her government has raised massive funds to help farmers cope with serious drought conditions in parts of the country but conceded that financial support Italy receives from the EU would account for much of the money.

The Meloni government also extended state aid for the agriculture use of diesel fuel this year. Farming associations are seeking longer-term tax relief.

GERMANY’S FARMERS GET PARTIAL CONCESSIONS​

Germany’s farmers began protesting in December, staging demonstrations and blockades with tractors, after government leaders facing a budget crisis said they would abolish vehicle and fuel tax exemptions for agriculture.

The plan was watered down, with the vehicle tax exemption remaining and cuts in tax breaks on diesel fuel used by farmers phased in over three years. Farmers demanded the reversal of those cuts, but lawmakers approved the revised plan on Friday.

FARMERS IN POLAND AND SPAIN DEMAND MORE RELIEF​

Poland has seen some of Europe’s most intense protests in recent months. The anger is largely directed at Brussels over the impact of cheaper imports from Ukraine and opposition to EU environmental regulations. A major farming association announced this week that plans new blockades on Polish highways and at border crossings with Ukraine on Feb. 9.

Spanish farmers are also holding out for more generous relief, following inconclusive talks Friday between farming association leaders and Agriculture Minister Luis Plans. The associations argue that “suffocating” bureaucracy is adding to the misery caused by drought, low prices, and unfair competition from non-EU countries. They are planning fresh protests.

CLIMATE CHANGE FUELS PROTESTS IN GREECE​

Farmers’ protests in Greece go back decades, mostly over subsidies. Massive wildfires and floods in 2023, both seen as consequences of climate change, compounded worries about higher costs and lower earnings.

On Friday, the Greek government rushed out a new support package that includes tax rebates, a five- month discount on electricity rates, debt relief and a promise to speed up the delivery of flood recovery funds in central Greece.

“The government is showing its interest in the welfare of farmers and livestock farmers in every way possible,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told lawmakers in parliament.

Farming associations at the Thessaloniki protest Friday described the measures as a “drop in the ocean” and promised to intensify highway blockades starting this weekend.

___​

Kantouris reported from Thessaloniki, Greece. Raf Casert in Brussels, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Ciaran Giles in Madrid and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this story.
 
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