Farmers’ protests have again erupted in the Netherlands and Belgium as European governments enforce radical climate change policies.
To comply with the European Union’s climate diktats, the Dutch, Belgium, and other European governments have pledged to more than halve their emission of greenhouse gases. To meet these radical targets, they are forcing the farmers to cut down on their livestock or go out of business.
In the Netherlands, Europe’s biggest meat exporter, the government is trying to “convince farmers to reduce livestock herds or leave the industry to cut emissions,” the London-based Financial Times reported last week.
Explaining the drastic EU emission cuts, the newspaper added:
The Netherlands will be forced to choose between agriculture or building new homes and infrastructure if it is to meet its climate targets unless the farming sector cuts nitrogen-based emissions, the country’s nature minister has warned.The emissions clampdown stems from a 2019 decision by the country’s supreme court, which ruled that no more permits to emit nitrogen could be issued because the country had breached EU nature protection laws. This means permits only become available when they are given up by other businesses.
As new EU regulations threaten their livelihood, farmers in the Netherlands and Belgium are taking to the streets.
Reporting the protests in Belgium, Reuters wrote Friday:
Farmers from Belgium’s northern region of Flanders drove thousands of tractors into Brussels on Friday in a protest against a new regional government plan to limit nitrogen emissions.Police estimated the number of tractors clogging the streets of Brussels at 2,700. Many were decorated with big signs reflecting the farmers’ anger. “Proud to be a farmer,” read one.Agricultural organisations said in a joint statement that the nitrogen agreement as it now stands “will cause a socio-economic carnage”. They wanted the agreement to better reflect future prospects for the farm sector.The planned move to limit emissions in Flanders has caused a crisis within the Flemish regional government that was not resolved during 16 hours of talks earlier this week. Belgian media reported Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon wants to make the final decisions by this weekend.
Similar protests were also reported in the neighboring Netherlands, with Dutch farmers joining with anti-globalist rightist parties ahead of this month’s municipal elections.
Left-wing UK newspaper The Guardian reported the Dutch protests:
Last week, protesting farmers confronted the finance minister, Sigrid Kaag, with burning torches. Tractors have blockaded roads, and slurry has been dumped at the home of the minister for nature, Christianne van der Wal. Meanwhile, the far right has successfully co-opted the farmers’ cause, and promoted a toxic conspiracy theory that targeted farmland is being sequestrated in order to build homes for asylum seekers.The intimidation tactics used by elements of the farmers’ protest movement have been rightly condemned. But the rural backlash has generated widespread public sympathy – particularly outside the major cities. Ahead of crucial regional elections this month, a new Farmer-Citizen party is running third in the polls.
The Netherlands is the world’s second-largest agricultural exporter after the United States. Farming and dairy sectors also play a key role in Belgium’s economy.
With Ukraine, the proverbial breadbasket of Europe, devastated after a yearlong war, the EU wants to put tens of thousands of Dutch farmers out of business in pursuit of a foolish climate change agenda. “Dutch government proposals for tackling nitrogen emissions indicate a radical cut in livestock – they estimate 11,200 farms will have to close and another 17,600 farmers will have to significantly reduce their livestock,” the BBC estimated last July.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY