Above photo: Protest in Saint-Etienne-de-Fontbellon, France. Farmers protests have been raging across Europe since December 2023. Wikimedia.
Farmers across Europe are in deep distress over the rising cost of production.
Rising costs are inflicted by high energy prices and cost of fertilizers, along with low prices for their produce facilitated by the EU.
Farmers and their unions in Eastern and Central Europe, are mobilizing in large numbers against growing economic distress. They have expressed their rejection of provisions in the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Green Deal, and against the high cost of production and low incomes, import of tariff-free grains from Ukraine war efforts, and exhaustive bureaucratic procedures in farm-related laws and regulations.
Farmers affiliated with the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic (AKCR), Slovak Chamber of Agriculture and Food Industry, unions in Poland, and many others participated in rallies and road blocks on February 22, demanding concrete policy measures from their respective governments and the European Union (EU) in solving their grievances.
Leftists and other progressive political parties including the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) in the Czech Republic, Socilaisti in Slovakia, and the Polish Communist Party (KPP) have also expressed support for the agitation by the farmers.
In a joint statement issued on February 13 by the agrarian chambers of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Bulgaria together with the professional organizations of farmers and cooperatives in Romania, they urged the introduction of an obligation for the European Commission to carry out an analysis of the impact on farmers and their production costs whenever major changes and new conditions are introduced.
These changes listed in the statement include the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the implementation of the Green Deal (including non-CAP aspects), or the preparation of other (even partial) strategies and visions affecting directly or indirectly agricultural activities.
The groups have also demanded the European Commission to change the current set-up of trade cooperation with Ukraine.
The Polish Communist Party (KPP) stated that “changes in the agricultural sector show a huge offensive from big producers, including international concerns benefiting from the opening of borders to Ukrainian products, as well as free trade agreements the EU made with South American countries, among other things.”
The Socialisti group in Slovakia has put up three demands before the Slovakian government. Firstly to invest in the modernization and development of agricultural and processing enterprises under the condition of acquiring company ownership; secondly to ensure priority sale of domestic crops and food by linking local production with public organizations and institutions, and finally to establish a state chain that will ensure demand and sale of Slovak food as well as price stability and availability.
On February 19, farmers organized a major tractor rally in the Czech capital, Prague. Milan Krajča from the leadership of the KSCM and the Stačilo coalition, said at the rally, “Incompetent and anti-people government led by Petr Fiala in the Czech Republic has been implementing a policy that aims to eliminate Czech industry and agriculture.”
“The extortionist business practices, Green Deal, high energy prices, and further usurpation of powers by the European Union at the expense of the Czech Republic, are systematically leading the economy of our homeland to full subordination and dependence on imports,” he added.
Farmers across Europe including Germany, France, Belgium, and Greece, have been mobilizing for the last several weeks demanding effective solutions for their grievances including the higher cost of production and meager returns.
Farmers and their unions allege that the decline in domestic markets results from policies dictated by the European Union that promoted the import of cheap agricultural products in EU countries, facilitated by free trade agreements (FTAs).
Many EU countries, including Germany and France, continue to support war efforts in Ukraine going on since 2022 by providing billions in cash and ammunition. Meanwhile, the farmers accuse that they are mending their budgetary holes by abolishing agricultural subsidies, including tax relief for agricultural diesel and cutting exemption from vehicle taxes for farming vehicles.
Distress wrought by the climate crisis including floods, wildfires, and droughts also has had its toll on farmers across Europe. On multiple instances, farmers in several Eastern European countries expressed outrage over the import of tariff-free grains from Ukraine—facilitated by the EU to help the war effort—which has affected their internal markets.
On Monday February 26, agricultural ministers from EU countries met in Brussels to address the ongoing protests.