PETTY BOURGEOIS REVANCHISTS
James Crisp
Mon, 5 February 2024
Dutch farmers block the border between the Netherlands and Belgium in both directions
Angry farmers teamed up on Monday to block the Belgian-Dutch border, as demonstration leaders vowed to disrupt this year’s European elections in an escalation of anti-EU protests spreading across the continent.
Traffic between the Belgian city of Liege and Maastricht in the Netherlands was brought to a standstill in both directions as dozens of tractors from the two countries descended on the main highways across the frontier.
Europe’s farmers are revolting against EU net zero policies, high costs, cheap imports – including from Ukraine – and low prices for their produce.
Their protest movement has spread across the continent, with promises of disruptive demonstrations in the lead-up to the European Parliamentary elections in June.
Belgian police estimated that more than 1,300 tractors blocked central Brussels last Thursday as European Union leaders met in the Belgian capital for crunch talks over an aid package for Ukraine.
The farmers have since tried to block borders and supermarket distribution centres in a bid to have their discontent heard.
Melanie Broers, a Belgian farmer, told the RTBF broadcaster on Monday: “Farmers are still angry.”
He added: “We have been demonstrating in Belgium for more than a week… There are no concrete measures taken by the Belgian government.”
The protest at the Belgian-Dutch frontier ended in the afternoon, with police still warning people to avoid the area because of the congestion.
Denny Hegel, a farmer from Teuven, told Le Vif magazine: “We still have to milk the cows. In addition, we do not want to make people suffer unnecessarily, because at rush hour, we will have left again.”
Meanwhile, supermarkets have warned it could take them days before their shelves are fully stocked again after the protests started to hit their supplies.
Aldi said in a statement: “The actions have had a major impact on the supply.”
Roel Dekelver, a spokesman for the Delhaize supermarket chain, added: “We hope that the entire range will be normalised again by Wednesday.”
Fresh fruit and vegetables have been hit the hardest, with Colruyt, a supermarket chain, warning it could take two weeks for “stores to be replenished 100 per cent”.
Italian farmers head to Rome to protest against EU ‘betrayal’ - Reuters
Meanwhile, a convoy of 250 tractors left Tuscany, the scene of earlier demonstrations, on Monday morning. It was expected to arrive on the Via Cassia, a main road leading into the Italian capital, later in the day.
The farmers are expected to congregate on the outskirts of Rome pending further protests later in the week in scenes reminiscent of similar protests that have paralysed cities across Europe.
Danilo Calvani, one of the protest leaders, said: “We will encircle Rome and not just for one day.”
Mr Calvani added that “the mobilisation will begin from Thursday”.
He was speaking after meeting police chiefs in Rome to thrash out details of where and when the protest will be held.
Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, claimed on Monday that her Right-wing coalition had done “everything possible” to help farmers since coming to power a year and a half ago.
The farmers have demanded a platform at this week’s Sanremo Song Festival, a popular Eurovision-style contest which attracts millions of viewers in Italy.
Mr Calvini was one of the leaders of the Forconi, or the Pitchforks, a populist, anti-establishment movement that sprang up in Italy a decade ago before fizzling out.
At its height in 2003, the movement staged angry protests against politicians, the euro, the EU, austerity policies and high taxes. He now leads an organisation called “Betrayed Farmers”.
Mr Calvini said: “We’ve been betrayed by our MPs, by our political class. They have failed to defend us.”
Farmers protest in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Italy
- CESARE ABBATE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Blame lies equally with successive Italian governments and the EU, he said.
Meanwhile, in Belgium, Bart Dickens, a dairy farmer and president of the Farmers Defence Force, told The Telegraph: “On June 4, there is going to be a huge, huge protest here in Belgium, from all countries, before the elections of the European Parliament.”
He added: “Europe is trying to kill us. Enough is enough, where is this going to stop? I don’t know. We are done with it.”
Emil Macho, the chairman of Slovakia’s Chamber of Agriculture and Food, last week told the country’s national council Slovak farmers were willing to join other European farmers in revolt against the bloc’s target of net zero by 2050.
“Farmers protesting, burning tyres, pouring manure on administrative centres in half of the EU countries – that is just a consequence of what is often caused by green fanaticism in the EU,” he said.
Blame lies equally with successive Italian governments and the EU, he said.
Meanwhile, in Belgium, Bart Dickens, a dairy farmer and president of the Farmers Defence Force, told The Telegraph: “On June 4, there is going to be a huge, huge protest here in Belgium, from all countries, before the elections of the European Parliament.”
He added: “Europe is trying to kill us. Enough is enough, where is this going to stop? I don’t know. We are done with it.”
Emil Macho, the chairman of Slovakia’s Chamber of Agriculture and Food, last week told the country’s national council Slovak farmers were willing to join other European farmers in revolt against the bloc’s target of net zero by 2050.
“Farmers protesting, burning tyres, pouring manure on administrative centres in half of the EU countries – that is just a consequence of what is often caused by green fanaticism in the EU,” he said.
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