Originating in France last month, the movement has now proliferated to Germany, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Greece, and the Netherlands. These protests have manifested in blocked motorways and tractor convoys inundating cities.
Approximately 150 tractors gathered in Orte, situated about one hour north of Rome, as protesters advocating for improved pay and conditions declared their imminent arrival in the Italian capital, witnessed by an AFP reporter.
“Italian agriculture has woken up, it’s historic and the people here are proving it. For the first time in their history, farmers are united under the same flag, that of Italy,” said protester Felice Antonio Monfeli.
Protesters have insisted on a meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, and demonstrator Domenico Chiergi anticipates receiving “answers.”
“The situation is critical, we cannot be slaves in our own companies,” he said.
Approximately 2,000 Greek farmers rallied in the country’s second-largest city of Thessaloniki on Saturday, pressing for increases in aid. This demonstration unfolded a day after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis revealed additional support measures.
The pastoral tranquility of Thessaly’s highland villages was shattered as farmers, victims of recent natural disasters, discarded spoiled chestnuts and apples—an evocative tableau of nature’s relentless impact on their livelihoods.
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“We have no food, we cannot put our lives in discount. We want to stay on our land and not become migrants,” Kostas Tzelas, president of the Rural Associations of Karditsa, told AFP.
Mitsotakis has opted for an extensive approach, stretching the period for reimbursing a special consumption tax on oil and lowering rural electricity expenses until September—a pivotal component in his comprehensive one-billion-euro ($1.1 billion) relief package.
Tzelas brushed off Mitsotakis’s pronouncements as insignificant “peanuts,” and Rizos Maroudas, president of an agricultural associations union, revealed intentions for a scheduled meeting next week to strategize the escalation of blockades.
Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s bustling hub, faced disruption as hundreds of protesting farmers on tractors impeded access in opposition to a diesel taxation reform, as reported by the police.
A Hesse farmers’ association estimated vehicle numbers at around 1,000, while police said 400 tractors took part before the protest ended in the early afternoon.
A protest on the Dutch-Belgian border that had shut down a main motorway was winding down on Saturday, with traffic expected to resume around 7:00 pm, according to the Belga news agency.
Farmer discontent has also affected non-EU Switzerland, where around 30 tractors paraded in Geneva on Saturday in the country’s first such protest since the movement started elsewhere in Europe.
“As a young person, it scares us a lot not knowing if there is a future in our profession,” Antonin Ramu, a 19-year-old apprentice winegrower, told AFP.
He greeted the shift to environmentally conscious agriculture but appealed for further aid in countering competition from nations that do not adhere to similar standards.
The remaining motorway blockades in France were cleared by security forces on Saturday, following the directive from the leading agricultural union to remove them in light of recent government announcements.
At its height, the movement shook the foundations of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal’s government, leading to a brief suspension of the proposal to reduce pesticides and insecticides, coupled with the unveiling of a 400 million euro aid package.