It was only a prelude to actions planned for the start of the week of January 29, but farmers in Wallonia launched demonstrations in different places in their region and in Brussels on Friday January 26. The Federation of Young Farmers started the day by turning over the signs marking the entrance to certain towns to symbolize what quickly became the slogan of the movement: “The system is going on its head”.
In order to mark the convergence of struggles between them and their French colleagues, farmers from the province of Luxembourg headed towards the border in the morning. With their tractors, they blocked a national road heading towards France, while eighty French tractors were heading towards Belgium.
In the province of Hainaut, where French demonstrators blocked the A2 motorway leading to Valenciennes, meetings took place on the border between the two countries. Gatherings also took place in Battice, in the province of Liège, the convergence point of several processions.
“Return to realism”
Other actions, with the installation of filter dams and visits to agro-industrial sites, will be carried out on Monday January 29. The next day, a procession will travel to Namur, seat of the regional government, before a planned meeting with key ministers. And on Thursday February 1, a procession will head towards Brussels, where a summit of heads of state and government is due to begin.
At this stage, the different organizations differ on the scale and duration of the actions to be carried out, but their demands are close to those heard in France: reduction of legislative standards, considered too numerous and too restrictive in environmental matters, control and limitation of imports of products not subject to the same regulations as European production, increase in income while insecurity gains ground and inflation has led to a surge in prices for all the products necessary for cultivation and livestock.
Unions claim that many farmers would not earn more than 5 to 7 euros per hour. Hence the fact that many young people refuse to take over the farms: the average age of farmers in the region is today 60 years old and only 5% of them are under 35 years old.
For the Walloon Federation of Agriculture, close to the French FNSEA (National Federation of Farmers’ Unions), it is time to “return to realism”. “We want to face environmental challenges, but the current way is not the right way”explained, in substance, Marianne Streel, the president of the organization, Wednesday January 24.
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