European farmers’ organizations are staging yet another giant protest in Brussels to send a “wake-up call” to the EU politicians, just as the Commission is expected to unveil its controversial budget proposal for the 2028-2034 fiscal period later today.
The protest, organized by COPA-COGECA, Europe’s largest umbrella organization for farmer unions, starts in front of the European Parliament, from where attendees will march on to the Berlaymont palace, the seat of the European Commission, whose actions “stand in sharp contrast with President von der Leyen’s commitment to the strategic role of agriculture,” the lobby wrote.
The protest follows an unprecedented mobilization of farmers’ organizations from across the bloc in protest of the planned restructuring of the EU budget, which—despite being set to be increased by around €500 billion—is expected to feature a 20 to 25% (€80-100 billion) cut to farm subsidies while merging agricultural funds (CAP) with other lines of funding for the sake of flexibility, which is seen as a threat to long-term predictability.
COPA-COGECA’s petition, calling for maintaining the current amount and preserving an independent, inflation-adjusted, and regionally-allocated CAP in the budget for the sake of Europe’s food security, was signed by 6,355 organizations across the EU and will be delivered today to the EU Commission along with a symbolic pair of boots.
“We want to make them aware that a few points in the multi-year budget are not acceptable to farmers,” said Bruno Vincent, the president of the Flemish farmers’ lobby ABS. “There is talk of cutting 20% off that budget. This is unacceptable to us. People say agriculture is a strategic sector, but we don’t see that in their actions.”
Organizers are looking toward a peaceful march and not expecting a full-on tractor blockade as the ones we saw several times last year, during which angry farmers set fire to the square directly outside the EU Parliament or sprayed manure all over the EU Council’s headquarters.
However, there’s no telling what would happen if the farmers’ demands remain ignored at the highest level. Once the harvest season ends and farmers have more time and equipment on their hands, the chaotic scenes from last year could easily repeat.
That is, if member states don’t step in on behalf of their farmers and force the Commission to retreat during the Council negotiations. A coalition of 20 member states has already given a clear signal that they back the petition’s demands. The question is whether they will hold out while facing pressure from von der Leyen.
