Kysia HeksterFarmers block the ring road near Antwerp
NOS News•Tuesday, 10:59•Changed Tuesday, 12:47
Due to ongoing farmers’ protests in Belgium, road traffic around Antwerp was seriously disrupted this morning. The blockade is now over and traffic is moving again, but there are still long traffic jams around the Belgian port city. The previous advice to Dutch motorists to avoid Antwerp is no longer in force, the ANWB reports.
Farmers blocked the E19 between Breda and Antwerp with their tractors at the busy Kleine Bareel junction, just above Merksum. They set fire to material, causing a lot of smoke. The road surface there needs to be repaired.
Farmers are also taking action again in other places in Belgium today in the run-up to Thursday’s European summit in Brussels. For example, this morning there were protests at Geel, east of Antwerp, and on two roads south of Brussels, reports the Flemish broadcaster VRT.
Kysia Hekster Fire was set on the Antwerp ring road, near the Sportpaleis
This afternoon, farmers want to block the access roads to the port of Zeebrugge, writes the Flemish newspaper De Tijd. That action should last a day and a half. Actions at entrances and exits around Antwerp have also been announced for this afternoon.
Belgian farmers are taking action because they say their work is no longer profitable. They point to rising production costs and unchanged sales prices and criticize strict European environmental regulations. New nitrogen rules have been added now that the Flemish Parliament recently agreed on a new nitrogen approach that should lead to halving nitrogen emissions.
Convoy on the way to Paris
In France, farmers’ protests also continue. The blockades they organized yesterday on roads to and from Paris have continued in most places. Farmers set up camps and spent the night on site. Demonstrations are also taking place in other locations across the country road closures.
AFPFarmers on their way to Paris have lunch on the A20 highway near Saint-Maur
Since yesterday, an expanding convoy of tractors has been on its way to Paris from the south of France. After an overnight stay in Limoges, the farmers want to travel today via Orléans to Rungis, south of the capital, where the largest food distribution center in the country is located. Police stopped the tractors on the A20 highway this morning, but the farmers involved told the French news agency AFP that they were on their way again.
The farmers’ unions FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs spoke for more than 3.5 hours last night in Paris with the new Prime Minister Attal, reports the French newspaper Le Monde. Attal is expected to report on the outcome of the negotiations later today. The Prime Minister responded to farmers last week by canceling the increase in taxes on agricultural diesel.
AFPProtesting farmer at a blockade yesterday on the A6 near Villabe, south of Paris
That commitment is not enough for the farmers. They are angry about what they consider to be too low prices for their products, while they are faced with rising energy prices. The farmers also criticize European environmental regulations that prescribe that they are not allowed to use part of their land for agriculture due to nature restoration. The EU must meet French farmers on that point this week, French Agriculture Minister Fesneau said yesterday.