French farmers block highways around Paris

The protests follow similar actions in other European countries, including Germany and Poland, ahead of European Parliament elections in June. “Enough is enough, we are really fed up,” said farmer Geraldine Grillon, 46, at a blockade on the A10 motorway south of Paris.

Tractors and other vehicles line up on the A16 motorway during a French farmers' protest in Beauvais, France on January 29, 2024. Photo: Reuters

The farmer protests have left the French government, worried they are getting out of control and eyeing European elections, abandoning plans to phase out subsidies for agricultural diesel and promising to relax environmental regulations.

France also said it would push EU countries to agree to ease regulations on farmland and promised that more measures would be announced soon.

With farmers angry about cheap imports, Mr Macron has told the European Commission that trade talks with the South American bloc Mercosur cannot continue. Farmer groups oppose the Mercosur talks.

A car painted in the colours of the French national flag is parked on the A1 motorway during a protest by French farmers in Chennevieres-les-Louvres, on the outskirts of Paris, France on January 29, 2024. Photo: Reuters

“Our goal is to put pressure on the authorities so that we can quickly find a way out of the crisis,” Arnaud Rousseau, head of the powerful farmers union FNSEA, said on RTL radio.

Many farmers hung flags and banners from their tractors. One tractor had a sign that read “Angry Farmer.” Another read: “Too many taxes, too many regulations, no income to live on.”

Belgian farmers also blocked highways in southern Belgium and parked tractors near the European Parliament in Brussels. About 30 to 40 tractors were parked on the E19 just south of the Belgian capital on Monday morning, many of them farmers who had spent the night in their vehicles.

Huy Hoang (according to AFP, Reuters, France24)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nong-dan-phap-bieu-tinh-chan-duong-cao-toc-xung-quanh-thu-do-paris-post282955.html