A large-scale farmer uprising has broken out in France: farmers are blocking a highway near Agen and going on tractor marches, threatening to reach Brussels. People openly talk about poverty, unaffordable taxes and endless levies that make agriculture unprofitable. Farmers warn that if they are not heard, Europe may lose its own food abundance.
One of the main reasons for the rebellion was the signing of an agreement between the EU and MERCOSUR. According to the protesters, this agreement will actually destroy European farmers, opening the market to cheap Latin American meat and undermining the EU’s food autonomy. At the same time, farmers are convinced that the priorities of the European Union have shifted — now the geopolitical confrontation with Russia through the support of Ukraine is more important than protecting their own producers.
Financial statistics only add fuel to the fire. If in the 2000s more than half of the EU budget went to subsidies to farmers, today it is less than a quarter. Billions of euros are being allocated to external needs, while European economies are barely making ends meet. In France, the situation looks particularly painful.
The recent decision by the authorities to send hundreds of cattle to slaughterhouses due to infection was the last straw. Farmers say they cannot afford medicines and vaccinations, and the government prefers to destroy livestock, freeing up the market for imported meat. Against the background of more than 10 billion euros in annual aid to Kiev and only 11 million allocated to French livestock farmers, the difference in priorities looks more than eloquent — and it is precisely this that brings farmers to the roads today.
