Blockades at Belgium-Netherlands border. Tractor protests Wednesday in Strasbourg debate.

Brussels – Roadblocks and more protests. Farmers and trade associations are still protesting the EU’s
excessively strict environmental policies and the rising cost of fuel. After yesterday’s protests (Feb. 1) hit the European district in Brussels, where a meeting of leaders of the twenty-seven EU member states was underway, farmers, still disgruntled, decided to head to Flanders, blocking highways at the Belgium-Netherlands border.

“The signal has been given. We have received them both at the federal and the European level,” said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, addressing the uprising farmers. Just yesterday, on the sidelines of the European Council proceedings, De Croo together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met with the umbrella organization of European farmers, COPA COGECA, to extend a hand and revive dialogue, especially in the run-up to the European elections in June. “There is a commitment to continue working together in the weeks ahead. I think it’s time to remove the blockades,” De Croo said again, speaking on VRT radio.

To dampen tempers, the European Commission extended its hand to farmers by granting this week a one-year extension to the derogation on 4 per cent land set-aside obligations under the new Common Agricultural Policy. And it promised by the end of the month a proposal to reduce the bureaucratic burdens of the CAP, which is worth one-third of the EU’s long-term budget of €390 billion through 2027. A proposal that should arrive before the EU Agriculture Council scheduled for Feb. 26 in Brussels to give the twenty-seven ministers a chance to approve it.

Meanwhile, the protests and demands of European farmers reach the agenda in Strasbourg, where the plenary session of the European Parliament will take place from Monday to Thursday. Rising costs for farmers and the need to increase their income will be on the agenda in a debate with the EU Commission and Council on Wednesday morning. A debate that will not lead the European Parliament to adopt a resolution but will help in keeping the debate alive. And it cannot be ruled out that protests may even reach, physically, the Alsatian capital while the work of the European Parliament is underway.   Over the past year, the Green Deal—Brussels’ plan to
transform the European economy in terms of sustainability and a pivotal pillar of the Ursula von der Leyen-led European Commission—has attracted criticism and fueled feelings in the social, business, and agricultural fabric, on which Brussels has imposed ambitious (but necessary) targets in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by mid-century.

Hail of criticism and the slowing down of some legislative files, in particular the Farm to Fork agricultural ones, have forced von der Leyen to rethink her green agenda, clearly speaking of a new phase that winks at the world of industry, set forth de facto by the departure of Dutchman Frans Timmermans and the appointment of Vice-President Maros Sefcovic to lead the Green Pact. It is in this context that in recent weeks the European Commission has launched a Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture in which some 30 trade associations are participating and which will end in the summer, just before the June 6-9 European elections