agricultural anger persists in Europe, a summit opens in Brussels


HOUR BY HOUR

A European summit is due to open on Thursday in Brussels, while the agricultural sector continues its mobilization in France and the European Union. In France, the president of the rural Coordination union suggested to farmers “who wish to go to Paris” to “come to the National Assembly”, so that the deputies “can come to meet them”. Follow our live stream.

Belgian farmers use their tractors to block the European Union headquarters, on the day of the EU summit in Brussels, January 1, 2024. © Yves Herman, Reuters

The essential

  • A thousand tractors are blocking several streets in Brussels, where a summit of leaders of the Twenty-Seven is being held, against a backdrop of anger from the agricultural world towards European policy.
  • In France, Véronique Le Floch, president of the Coordination Rural union, suggested Thursday on RMC/BFMTV to farmers “who wish to go to Paris” to “come to the National Assembly”, so that the deputies “can come to meet them” .
  • Around fifty supermarkets were targeted during the night from Wednesday to Thursday by “around 200 tractors” and their access was blocked, in four communes of Haute-Loire, to denounce the “inappropriate” behavior of large stores, the union announced FDSEA 43.
  • Despite the executive’s attempts to convince the demonstrators to stop their mobilization, the blockades of farmers increased on Wednesday January 31 in France.
  • Eighteen people who tried to block Rungis, south of Paris, were arrested in the morning for “obstructing traffic”. Fifteen are in police custody, according to the Créteil public prosecutor’s office. In the evening, the police announced the arrest of 91 demonstrators after an intrusion and damage committed in Rungis.
  • In total, in France, more than 150 gatherings were recorded at 5 p.m., with 8,500 demonstrators for around 5,500 vehicles, a police source told AFP.
  • Heard in the Senate, the president of the FNSEA, the main agricultural union, affirmed that he was trying to “call for calm and reason” in the face of the anger of farmers, believing that many “European subjects” do not ” not settled in three days.
  • French Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau called on Brussels to quickly “simplify” the procedures of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the complexity of which the sector criticizes, promising proposals with other member states.
  • The European Commission has proposed several measures to try to calm the anger of the agricultural world in Europe, including the establishment of an “emergency brake” on imports of certain agricultural products from Ukraine.
  • Several hundred tractors are expected in Brussels on Thursday for a demonstration by farmers from several countries in the European district, on the sidelines of a summit of leaders of the Twenty-Seven, Walloon trade union organizations indicated.

With AFP

Related posts

Italy condemns attack on UNIFIL base in Lebanon that injured four soldiers

More than 100 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza in 48 hours | Israeli-Palestinian conflict News

Israeli forces bomb mosque in Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp