… And in Western Europe Too

There were also forceful protest actions by farmers last week in Spain, Greece and Italy. Italian tractors were out in force on Feb. 24 and 25 in many cities throughout the peninsula, including two thoroughfares in Rome, the Via Aurelia and the Via Nomentana. The protest, clearly directed against the EU Green measures, is organized outside of established trade unions, by independent local committees.

Daily protest actions are also reported from Greece, where road blocks were set up on the border with North Macedonia on Feb. 26. “This is the last battle we are fighting for, now that the new CAP (Common Agricultural Policy of the EU—ed.) is being discussed, which we ask to be abolished and redesigned, so that it does not become the tombstone of the primary sector,” farmers’ representative Giorgos Bellis said.

Farmers protests are clearly supported by a vast majority of the populations in the respective countries. For France, an Odoxa-Backbone Consulting poll carried out for Le Figaro found that 91% of the French public support the protests, 85% hold the government responsible for the crisis, 90% believe that the European Union is to blame, and 92% blame the big retailers. In the same vein, 70% believe that the measures proposed by the government are insufficient, and 77% agree that President Emmanuel Macron and his cabinet are “reacting poorly” to the crisis. That clearly forebodes some tough weeks ahead for the Green Deal, as the election campaign for the European Parliament heats up.

President Macron himself got to witness the anger of the farmers more closely than he would have wished, at the Agricultural Fair that began Feb. 24 in Paris. The opening had to be postponed for some time due to the storming of the hall by farmers and clashes with the security forces, while the President remained holed up in a well-protected room. After which he announced some interesting measures, which may or may not be implemented…