‘Do we need farmers?’ ‘Do we want European agriculture or are we happy to import more?’

Farmers in convoys of tractors created chaos outside the European Union’s headquarters on Thursday, pelting police with firecrackers, eggs and beer bottles as they demanded leaders at an EU summit provide relief from rising prices and bureaucracy. With thick smoke from burning bales of hay hanging over parts of the Belgian capital, security forces used water cannons to douse fires and keep a farmer from felling a tree on the steps of the European Parliament. They could not prevent one bronze statue being pulled off its pedestal and scorched. Thursday’s are the culmination of weeks of protests around the bloc, whose farmers say it’s becoming harder than ever to make a decent living as energy and fertilizer costs surge because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, more and cheaper farm imports make it hard to compete, and climate change-fueled droughts, floods or fires destroy crops. Farmers across numerous European countries have taken to the streets and blocked roads and highways to voice their discontent about pay, taxes and green rules as well as unfair competition from abroad. As farmers on tractors create chaos outside the EU summit in Brussels, FRANCE 24’s Nadia Massih is joined by Yves Madre, President of Farm Europe think tank.