Thousands of farmers from several European countries gathered in Brussels on Tuesday to protest against the European Union's environmental protection policy, which organizers of the protest say undermines the competitiveness of European agriculture and threatens the interests of farmers.

The main organizer of the demonstration is a Dutch organization, the Farmers Defense Force (FDF), which since 2022 has been protesting against the Dutch government's green policy, especially the plan to reduce nitrogen emissions.

According to official figures, around 1,200 protesters took part in the all-day protest, who marched with 500 tractors to the Atomium, a tourist attraction in the northern part of the city. The police prevented the protesters from approaching the buildings of the EU institutions in the center of Brussels.

The main Belgian agricultural unions did not join the demonstration. Speaking to The Brussels Times news portal, the spokesperson of the Walloon Agricultural Association said that, according to the organization, the protest is not timely due to the proximity of the Belgian federal elections.

    "The timing of the demonstration is not very good: it is too late to convince the current government to change its policy and too early to explain our arguments to the next government"

- He told.

Boerenbond, the largest farmers' association of Flanders and Eastern Belgium, was not represented at the demonstration either, according to their spokesperson, the organization prefers "dialogue to amplify the voice of farmers", but supports everyone who "represents producers in a respectful and dignified manner."

    Copa-Cogeca, the strongest advocacy organization for European farmers, has also asked its members not to take part in the action.

Coordination rurale, a right-wing French agricultural union, joined the demonstration and in a press release condemned "the liberal excesses of the EU, the madness of the EU Green Deal, the ever more and more costly regulations that increase the distortion of competition."

Bart Dickens, president of the Belgian branch of the Farmers Defense Force, said the farmers taking part in the demonstration wanted the EU to shelve the implementation of the Green Deal because it was "not feasible".

According to the program published on the organization's website, politicians and public figures from Romania, Spain, Poland and Italy will speak at the demonstration.

Brussels has been the scene of several large-scale agricultural protests in recent months. The movements taking place in several EU countries led the EU to loosen some of the environmental protection conditions related to the payment of EU agricultural resources.

MTI

Cover image: Illustration / MTI/EPA-ANSA/Claudio Peri