By Athena Papakosta

The farmers’ block in Brussels continues with one difference. At the moment, the heart of the mobilizations is beating in the south of the European Union and it seems as if the northern farmers have passed the baton of mobilizations to the southerners of the Union to keep pushing until Brussels gives in to new concessions.

Hellas, Italy and Spain they give the rural… pace with the Bulgaria to follow closely, while in previous weeks the Germansthe Frenchthe Dutch peoplethe Polesthe Lithuanians and the Romanians.

Already the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, from Strasbourg – where they made their first tractor appearance by surrounding the Plenary of the European Parliament – took another step back and proposed to withdraw the draft law regarding the restriction of the use of pesticides in the agricultural sector.

As he explained, the proposal in question has now become a symbol of polarization and noting that “more dialogue and a different approach is needed”, he said that the Commission “could submit a new proposal that is much more mature”.

Under the Green Deal, the European Union had set a target of reducing the use of pesticides and other hazardous substances by 50% by 2030, with environmentalists criticizing the proposal as insufficient and farmers complaining that it would put many out of work.

In Italy, farmers a stone’s throw from Rome, set to flood the Eternal City tomorrow, Thursday, appear to be welcoming the European Union’s new retreat from its environmental red lines with skepticism.

“This news makes us feel proud, (…) because we are starting to work together,” said an Italian farmer who added that “the next step, for the benefit of farmers, is the immediate revision of the Common Agricultural Policy.”

Italian farmers are demanding, among other things, fairer prices for their products, a reduction in the tax on agricultural fuel, stricter controls on products from countries that are not EU Member States and a reduction in red tape.

At the same time, the Spanish farmers, who blocked road arteries in the regions of Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia, Valencia, La Rioja, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla-Leon, also premiered the dance of mobilizations. Their motto: “our end will mean your hunger”. They also blockaded the port of Malaga and the huge market in Valladolid.

It was preceded by the announcement of the Ministry of Rural Development of Spain for 270 million euros in aid to 140,000 farmers in the country in response to the problems they face due to the drought and the ongoing war in Ukraine but, it seems, the Spanish farmers were not convinced.

Adding fuel to the fire of the last few weeks, however, are the farmers in Bulgaria – the poorest country in the EU – who are further escalating their protests by blocking roads and border crossings with tractors.

Their new reaction is their response to the insufficient, as they described it, financial aid promised to them by the country’s government.

As they explain, this is not enough to cover the damage caused by the war in Ukraine, nor the increased production costs, nor the effects of climate change, nor the requirements of the European Green Deal.

Farming movements in Europe now count weeks of protests with the farming issue now emerging as a major issue in June’s European elections with subsidy cuts and green policies burning Brussels which so far only backs away from a one-year ban on compulsory fallow. of 4% of arable land and pesticides. But European farmers are pushing for very expensive production costs and until they get the answers they are asking for they don’t seem likely to back down.