on the eve of the elections, has the anger of farmers been digested?

After the waves of anger from the agricultural world which shook many countries in Europe, what about the Green Deal and the provisions regarding Ukrainian production which have flooded the market? Those in power are being attentive during this pre-electoral period.

The agricultural crisis affected Europe from January and February 2024, the Netherlands, then Germany caught fire, before spreading, particularly in France. The leaders have multiplied the promises after often tense negotiations, keeping an eye on the approaching electoral deadline.

But in Poland, where the protest was perhaps the most heated, there are still some demonstrations and farmers have not finished making their demands heard.

In Brussels, many concessions were made

With the extension of their anger to a growing number of countries at the start of the year, European farmers have truly invited themselves onto the political scene. European parties found themselves forced to react, but with two different visions. Some on the left feared that concessions to farmers would undermine the European Green Deal, and on the right side of the spectrum, conservative parties generally took up the cause of farmers – quite strategically towards a rather traditional electorate.

In the European Parliament, from 2023, several battles have taken place, resulting in a weakening of certain green provisions currently being adopted, such as for the limitation of pesticides. For the CAP, the common agricultural policy, environmental measures have been modified as concessions to farmers. This law, which provides for the restoration of 20% of land areas, is still in limbo. The fallow obligation, which was to be imposed for 4% of agricultural land, is suspended for 2024 and is on the verge of disappearing – except on a voluntary basis. Another of the main concessions proposed by the commission since March 2024 is also the lifting of controls and penalties linked to environmental rules for farms of less than ten hectares, which concern 65% of CAP beneficiaries.

There were also concessions on trade relations, with in particular a partial “unraveling” of support for Ukraine. In April, Europeans agreed to automatically reimpose customs duties on Ukrainian agricultural products considered sensitive: eggs and poultry, sugar and honey, oats and corn. And if their import disrupts the market in at least one country of the European Union, all other foodstuffs will also be subject to ceilings.

In Poland, a fire far from being extinguished

In Poland, the farmers’ movement is still very much alive. Monday May 27, 2024, it was strawberry producers who came forward to oppose the importation of fruit from abroad. And last week saw the end of the hunger strike of a group of farmers protesting at Parliament. The first point of tension in Poland is the removal of customs duties on Ukrainian agricultural production, to help kyiv in its war effort. A decision that went badly here, because certain products flooded the Polish market, and local farmers could not cope.

Months of blockage followed at the border between the two countries. Then the Green Deal added fuel to the fire. But with the harvest period arriving, the blockages were lifted last month. The government has already granted subsidies, particularly on cereals. He also promised to support farmers on the European scene, to oppose the Green Deal, or at least have it modified.

It is to support this promise that Polish farmers plan to go to Brussels on June 4, 2024 to demonstrate. Ela Mazowska, wheat farmer and cow breeder, testifies after almost 6 months of demonstration: “I would say that I am both disappointed but motivated. We have to do something to make things better. But the behavior of our authorities, of the government, was not appropriate. At our peaceful demonstration in Warsaw, we did not “was not listened to and everything got out of control because of the police, no one knows why.”

For these farmers, this anger should also be expressed at the ballot box. Caught between the war in Ukraine and the new rules of the European Green Deal, farmers increasingly want more and more from Brussels. They should therefore turn to the parties which promise to detach themselves a little from the European Union on June 9, 2024.