https://nordictimes.com/europe/belgian-farmers-protest-in-brussels/

Europe

Belgian farmers protest in Brussels

The war on food supply

Published 1 February 2024

– By Editorial Staff

Montage. Photo: facsimile/AFP News/Global News/Youtube

Farmers blocked roads and parked in front of the European Parliament.

Farmer uprisings continue to spread across Europe. Belgian farmers have now initiated widespread roadblocks as part of their protest against rising operating costs, EU environmental legislation and plans to import cheaper food.

The demonstrations include a notable presence of parked tractors near the European Parliament in Brussels.

On Tuesday, five truck routes were blocked by farmers, allowing cars to pass. Tractors also blocked the North Sea port, the country’s second largest road, for at least 36 hours.

The Algemeen Boerensyndicaat (ABS) union also called on its members to join the protest.

– The farmers are desperate, really desperate. We’ve been warning the government for years that this would happen, Mark Wulfrancke, ABS policy officer, told Reuters.

Wulfrancke also argues that food prices need to reflect the increased costs European farmers face in meeting EU environmental standards.

– We want respect from our government, the European government. The only way to show that respect is to create policies that are farmer friendly, food friendly.

Parking at the EU Parliament

Also in the capital Brussels, farmers have decided to park their tractors in central parts of the city, including near the European Parliament. They plan to stay there until Thursday, when MEPs have agreed to meet with farmers’ unions. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has promised to discuss various agricultural laws with the European Commission.

– We are asking them to review their laws, said Nicolas Fryers, a farmer participating in the protest.

The protest is part of a growing movement within EU countries, with farmers from Germany, the Netherlands and France recently blocking roads. Spanish farmers have also said they plan to protest against the EU’s strict agricultural regulations.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/europe/polish-farmers-block-the-road-to-germany/

Europe

Polish farmers block the road to Germany

The war on food supply

Published 28 February 2024

– By Editorial Staff

Photo: facsimile/Euronews

Farmers in Poland have full stocks but cannot sell their produce.

On Sunday, farmers from Poland blocked a major highway bordering Germany in protest against, among other things, the “uncontrolled” import of Ukrainian grain, which they say creates unfair competition.

On Sunday, Polish farmers started a tractor blockade on the highway bordering Germany. The farmers continue to protest the EU’s “Green Deal” regulation, which they say will make products more expensive and create unfair competition from non-EU countries.

– We farmers from Poland are here because we are no longer accepting the EU Green Deal regulation, farmer Christopher Janicki told AFP. We also do not accept the uncontrolled import of grain from outside of the EU.

The main problem for Polish farmers is the import of cheap grain from Ukraine, where exports have been suspended due to the ongoing war.

– Farmers in Poland have their warehouses full and cannot get rid of their goods, he says.

For several weeks, farmers across Europe have been blocking roads with tractors in protest at strict EU environmental rules and competition from cheap imports from other countries. The protests, which began in Germany, have spread to France, Belgium, Denmark and the Czech Republic.

On Monday, they continued to block both lanes of the highway, but reportedly ended during the day. A 25-day blockade was originally planned, but was shortened after talks with local representatives and companies.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/denmark/climate-council-calls-for-meat-tax-in-denmark/

Denmark

Climate council calls for meat tax in Denmark

The war on food supply

Published 26 February 2024

– By Editorial Staff

Photo: iStock/VLG

Danish politicians want their citizens to eat less red meat.

Denmark’s climate council proposes a carbon tax on meat products for consumers, but the idea is rejected by a committee of experts who question whether it would have any effect on emissions in Denmark. The expert committee argues that farmers should be taxed instead.

The government’s climate advisor believes that politicians in the country should introduce a consumption tax on meat in supermarkets so that consumers have to pay more for beef and other products that emit carbon dioxide.

– There are good reasons to levy a tax on what is in the fridge and especially on the big climate villains in the fridge – such as red meat, Peter Møllgaard, chairman of the Danish Climate Council, told Danish state broadcaster DR.

The tax would be imposed on all beef, regardless of which country it comes from.

On Wednesday, a committee of experts led by Michael Svarer, professor of economics at Aarhus University, presented its own proposals on how to achieve the climate targets in Denmark. They scrapped the proposal for a consumption tax and pointed out that it would not be “particularly economically appropriate” to introduce a CO₂ tax on the products in the fridge.

– It is difficult to implement because it is hard to know the exact climate impact of a Dr. Oetker pizza from Bavaria, he said.

“Controlling consumer demand”

– If you don’t know, you have to use average figures, and then the producer has no incentive to change their behavior because they still have to pay the average tax rate. Then you don’t achieve the behavioral effect that you want for the tax. This is why we have chosen to avoid a consumption tax, Svarer continues.

Instead, it is proposed that a carbon tax could be introduced for agriculture. The tax would make it more expensive for farmers to produce, for example, milk and meat, which also means that it would make the products more expensive for the customer. However, according to calculations, such a tax would, for example, make 500 grams of beef an average of DKK 4.5 more expensive. However, the Climate Council considers this to be too little.

– The idea is that it should be more expensive if you demand goods that have a high climate impact. The idea is that we need to steer consumer demand away from things that cause a lot of pollution, says Møllgaard.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/europe/czech-farmers-join-protests/

Europe

Czech farmers join protests

The war on food supply

Published 20 February 2024

– By Editorial Staff

Photo: facsimile/AP/Youtube

The situation of the farmers is described as "desperate".

Hundreds of tractors rolled into Prague on Monday as farmers protested against the EU’s “green” policies and the complicated and time-consuming bureaucracy surrounding agriculture.

Farmers in several EU countries have protested against the abolition of tax breaks on diesel, increased fuel costs and general EU environmental legislation by blocking major roads with tractors in Germany, France and Slovakia. Danish farmers also plan to join the protests.

Hundreds of tractors entered the Czech capital on Monday, blocking a main road in the city. The tractors did not completely block the road, but traffic was still able to pass. Several hundred people then gathered in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, shouting “shame” and “resignation” at those who work there.

– We came today mainly because of the bureaucracy around farming, the paperwork is on the edge of what is bearable, farmer Lukas Melichovsky told Reuters.

“Hopeless situation”

However, the country’s main agricultural organizations are distancing themselves from Monday’s protests, as some of the participants have previously taken part in pro-Russian demonstrations. On Thursday, however, the Agrarian Chamber (AK) plans to protest against EU environmental policies.

– Farmers are desperate in this hopeless situation and do not know what they should expect in the near future, let alone the distant one, AK President Jan Dolezal said last week.

On Thursday, farmers from Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia will also protest.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/denmark/danish-farmers-to-protest-against-carbon-tax/

Denmark

Danish farmers to protest against carbon tax

The war on food supply

Published 12 February 2024

– By Editorial Staff

Photo: facsimile/Hochkelberg tv/Youtube

The farmers' uprisings spreading across Europe may soon come to Denmark.

The farmers’ organization Agerskovgruppen plans to demonstrate against the government’s upcoming carbon tax. The organization warns that it will block roads with “hundreds” of tractors if “this madness does not stop”.

The Danish farmers’ organization says it is now ready to take action against the planned “CO₂ tax”, a new part of the government’s climate policy that will require farmers to pay fees for all forms of CO₂ emissions.

– We are ready to act and roll towards Copenhagen with hundreds of tractors from all over the country to protest against a unilateral and unprofessional and therefore illegal Danish carbon tax on agriculture and food production. And we will do so if this madness does not stop, says chairman Jens Peter Aggesen in a press release.

Aggesen argues that such a tax will in practice mean that Danes will have to eat foreign food from countries where there are no such taxes on food production.

– And this will not save a single bit of the planet’s total greenhouse gas emissions – quite the opposite, he says.

“We have been too kind”

In other European countries, farmers are fighting tax increases, tax breaks, and other environmental policies that they say are hurting agriculture in their countries. Angry farmers in Germany, France and Belgium, among others, have protested by blocking roads.

– The frustration is enormous, and we understand that our fellow farmers in other EU countries are also demonstrating to ensure the survival of their businesses. If, as we fear, the Danish politicians plan a unilateral and high fixed tax on all CO₂ emitted from food production in Denmark, we will move to Christiansborg and block the capital with our tractors. We have been too nice for too long, he says.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Polaris of Enlightenment

Polaris of Enlightenment