Europe shaken by the farmers’ crisis

The spectacular protest movement by European farmers, who for several weeks have been denouncing the precariousness of their profession, excessive bureaucratic and environmental standards and unfair competition, has reached Brussels. On Thursday 1 February, the European capital is hosting an extraordinary summit devoted to the EU budget for aid to Ukraine, but the subject of agriculture is firmly on the agenda. The aim is to find a viable compromise between the free market, food sovereignty and environmental requirements… This is no mean challenge for a Europe that is increasingly criticised, even though it has always considered the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to be one of its great successes. The far right, like Viktor Orban who has already appeared alongside farmers in Brussels, is taking advantage of this political headache to appropriate the anger of the farming community.