Farmers in Belgium have blocked access to the country’s second-largest seaport to protest steadily mounting fuel prices and unpopular European Union policies that they say are destroying their businesses.
The protest in Belgium follows similar actions by farmers in other EU member states, including France, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands.
“Seeing it start up in other countries, we thought that if we all get together, we will be stronger in the eyes of the EU,” one Belgian protester told Reuters.
Like their counterparts in other West European countries, Belgian farmers have criticized skyrocketing fuel costs and what they regard as excessive EU bureaucracy. They also complain that the trading bloc’s liberal policies have made them the victims of unfair competition.
On Jan. 30, thousands of farmers—driving their trademark tractors and trucks—blocked roads leading to the Port of Zeebrugge on the North Sea coast.
Also known as the Bruges Seaport, Zeebrugge is Belgium’s second-largest port after the Port of Antwerp.
According to local press reports, protesting farmers planned to maintain their blockade for at least 36 hours.
On Jan. 29, protesting farmers also blocked several highways in the country’s south.
On the same day, hundreds of farmers parked their agricultural vehicles outside the European Parliament building in Brussels.
At least one group of farmers in Brussels said they planned to stay put until Feb. 1, when the city will host a major EU summit.
Farmers have also disrupted traffic near the Dutch border, and on Jan. 30, reports emerged that a convoy of tractors was heading toward the city of Antwerp.
The ongoing protests enjoy the support of Belgium’s General Farmers Syndicate, or Algemeen Boerensyndicaat (ABS), which has reportedly urged all its members to take part.
“Farmers are really desperate,” ABS policy officer Mark Wulfrancke was recently quoted as saying.
“We warned the government for years that this would happen.”
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo is expected to soon meet with the heads of local farmers’ associations in hopes of defusing the crisis.
“It’s important that [protesting farmers] are listened to,” Mr. De Croo told reporters on Jan. 30.
French Farmers Shut Roads
The protests in Belgium coincide with similar actions in neighboring France, where farmers have blocked highways across the country—including near Paris—for the past several days.Like their Belgian counterparts, French farmers demand that the government curb inflation and protect the local agricultural sector from the import of cheaper foodstuffs.
Protesting farmers’ tractors are adorned with banners displaying anti-government slogans, such as: “Too many taxes, too many rules, no income to live on.”
“It’s just too much,” Geraldine Grillon, a 46-year-old farmer taking part in the protests near Paris, told Reuters on Jan. 29.
“We’re really fed up.”
Ms. Grillon blamed French President Emmanuel Macron—and the EU policies he espouses—for the farmers’ woes.
According to French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau, Mr. Macron will push for more farmer-friendly policymaking at this week’s EU summit in Brussels.
In hopes of avoiding escalation, Paris on Jan. 26 dropped plans to phase out diesel subsidies—one of the farmers’ primary grievances—while also vowing to ease environmental restrictions.
Farmers’ organizations, however, say the moves aren’t enough and have vowed to continue blocking roads until all their demands are met.
John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images
Spanish Farmers Set to Enter Fray
The protests in France were preceded by similar actions in Germany, where thousands of farmers converged on the capital on Jan. 15.The show of force in Berlin capped a week-long strike by farmers, who blocked roads nationwide to protest government plans to raise taxes and eliminate agricultural subsidies.
German farmers complain that government-imposed austerity measures—if carried out—would drive most of them out of business.
Berlin appeared to backtrack in early January, promising to keep tax exemptions for farmers in place while gradually phasing out subsidies over three years.
But protesting farmers, backed by the German Farmers’ Association, demand that the measures be scrapped entirely.
Now, Spanish farmers, too, appear set to enter the fray. On Jan. 30, several Spanish associations announced plans to begin holding protests of their own.
“Mobilizations will take place as soon as possible,” Pedro Barato, head of a prominent Spanish farmers’ association, said in broadcast remarks.
Notably, farmers in Spain share many of the same grievances as their counterparts in other EU states.
They complain that environmental regulations imposed by Brussels are destroying their businesses and driving up local food prices.
According to Mr. Barato, planned farmers’ protests in Spain “will not be very different from what is happening in other EU countries.”
