Farmers across the European Union are angry about regulations, the impact of inflation and taxes on their products. They have also demanded that their mortgages be suspended. In France, farmers set bales of hay ablaze to partly block access to Toulouse airport in southwestern France on Tuesday and parked tractors across highways near Paris as they lobbied the government for help to make a living from their work. Farmers, who also want measures against cheap imports, are looking for more support from new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who will spell out his policy plans later on Tuesday, and from the agriculture minister, who is also due to make an announcement. The protests follow similar action in other European countries, including Germany and Poland, ahead of European Parliament elections in June in which the far right, for whom farmers represent a growing constituency, is seen making gains. As farmers step up pressure on governments across the EU, FRANCE 24’s Genie Godula is joined by Renaud Foucart, Economist and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics at Lancaster University Management School.
As far-right harvests farmers’ anger across EU, can green reforms ‘include farmers in conversation’?
