site.btaAnger of Farmers in Europe Has Not Subsided, Protests Have Moved outside European Parliament - Bulgarian in Strasbourg Reports

French farmers parked tractors outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, blocking traffic and public transport. "The main entrance of the Parliament was fenced off while demonstrators gathered in front of it," BTA learned from Bulgarian translator Rada Gankova, who lives in Brussels but happened to be in Strasbourg at the time of the farmers' discontent.

The farmers' protest coincided with a European Parliament Plenary attended by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

"The anger of farmers in Europe has not subsided, and the protests have moved to the headquarters of the Parliament in Strasbourg. This protest cannot be compared in magnitude and size to what took place in Brussels. There were representatives of two French farmers' unions and some 60 tractors parked in front of the building," Gankova said.

She recalled that at the Eurochambres meeting, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the European Commission was ready to make concessions and was considering withdrawing its proposal to halve the use of pesticides by 2030, "which is a success for the protesters".

"The general view here is that farmers deserve respect because they provide people with food. Farmers themselves believe they are a scapegoat for the green transition and the import of cheaper products from third countries where the rules are not as strict. Slogans against new genomic techniques, which farmers call 'the new GMO', were added to the protest," Gankova said.

Meanwhile, farmers took to the streets in Bulgaria, Spain, and the Netherlands. Earlier, farmers voiced their discontent in Italy, Poland, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, and Brussels. They protested against rising costs, the European Union's environmental policy, and cheap food imports.