Farmers set fire to tires and blocked roads at a protest in Brussels on Monday.
Over 100 tractors were parked around the European Union institutions’ headquarters as agricultural ministers met to discuss the sector.
Police carrying riot gear patrolled barriers set up near the headquarters and fired water cannons to put out flames.
What are the farmers’ protests about?
Demonstrators are demanding EU action on cheap supermarket products, low-cost imports, and environmental rules that farmers say put too much pressure on the agricultural sector.
Farmers argue that allowing cheap imports puts pressure on EU agriculture which cannot compete with other countries with laxer environmental regulations.
The farmers’ association European Coordination Via Campesina said the EU had not yed done enough to address the demands. Belgian, German, Dutch and French farming associations also called members to join the protest.
Farmers also protested talks between Brussels and the South American economic bloc Mercosur.
What did agriculture ministers say about the farmers’ demands?
In response to weeks of farmers’ protests, the EU has weakened some parts of its Green Deal environmental policies and removed the goal of cutting farming emissions from its 2040 climate roadmap.
“Farmers need to be paid for what they do… There are aspects of the Green Deal demanded of farmers that are not remunerated. That is the core of the problem,” Belgian Agriculture Minister David Clarinval said before the meeting.
“We must change a lot in the [EU’s common agricultural policy], because this Green Deal and the green targets that we have are almost impossible to reach,” Latvian Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze said.
“I’m not saying that we cannot do the (green) transition, but there is a need to take into account the reality on the ground,” French Agricultural Minister Marc Fesneau said.
sdi/rc (Reuters, dpa, AP)
