Farmers’ Revolt Over Radical Green Agenda Could Reshape Europe Ahead Of EU Elections

[Geee]

The Federalist

European farmers are reshaping the political landscape across the Atlantic about two months before 27 member states of the European Union (EU) vote on new leadership in their parliamentary elections.

Between June 6 and June 9, residents in the more than two dozen EU countries will elect 720 politicians to represent them as the continent confronts floundering economies and a potential war with Russia. Major demonstrations from agricultural workers, who are disillusioned by cheap imports and overregulation in the name of environmentalism, have rocked the region for years. The discontent has escalated in recent months, leading to last-minute concessions from EU elites desperate to maintain political capital ahead of the June elections.

 

In 2023, Dutch farmer protests generated global headlines as more than 10,000 people fought aggressive emissions regulations. The new rules threatened to shut down up to 3,000 farms. The Dutch demonstrations have been followed by similar uprisings in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, and others over burdensome regulations and Ukrainian grain imports undermining local produce.

In February, the European Commission tried to do some damage control, scrapping a bill aimed at halving pesticide use and reigning in agricultural emissions as leaders brace for political blowback at the polls. But the specific limits on pesticides appear to be a minor point among farmers, who are tired of the overwhelming rules and regulations.

[Geee]

The fury of Europe’s farmers

Europe’s farmers are rising up – and the elites are terrified. In France, farmers recently staged a four-day ‘siege of Paris’, blocking major roads around the French capital. In January, thousands of tractors descended on Berlin in Germany, lining the streets leading up to the Brandenburg Gate. In Brussels, farmers have gathered from all over Europe to demonstrate against the EU and pelt the European Parliament with eggs. In the Netherlands, tractors have caused the longest traffic jam in the nation’s history, as part of a years-long battle between farmers and the government. This farmers’ revolt is now truly Europe-wide. From Portugal to Poland, from Ireland to Italy, almost every EU country has been rocked by protests. So what is driving this populist uprising? What do the farmers want?

Farmers in each country have their own specific grievances, of course. But there is a common root to their anger. What connects them is the European Union’s green agenda, which has been imposed on agriculture from on-high. It has made farmers’ lives a misery, sacrificing their livelihoods at the altar of climate alarmism. Bureaucrats who have no idea how farmers work and live, have essentially been condemning farms – many of them run by families for generations – to oblivion, all at the stroke of the regulator’s pen. And farmers are simply not putting up with it anymore.

[Valin]

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