Switzerland, Romania, Germany… Update on farmer mobilization in Europe

Agricultural Europe is making its presence felt. Switzerland, Romania, Germany… If in France farmers lifted most of the blockade, then in Europe they continue to mobilize.

In Italy, demonstrations continued on Saturday with around 150 tractors present in Orta, an hour’s drive from Rome, and demonstrators announcing their imminent arrival in the capital. Marching in a column along a major highway, angry farmers demanded better working conditions and incomes.

Impromptu demonstrations have taken place across the country in recent weeks, from Sicily to the north of the country. There are now regular reports of tractor convoys blocking roads, although the scale of the movement has not reached the level of farmers’ protests in France or Germany.

Mobilization ends in Romania

Romanian farmers and road hauliers were among the first in Europe to cry out that they were fed up with blocking roads to begin leaving the camp on Saturday after the government deal was announced.

Protesters are “satisfied” to have a seat at the negotiating table, one of their representatives said. He explained that it was a “condition” to stop traffic northeast of the capital Bucharest, which farmers and truckers were gradually leaving to return to their regions.

For more than three weeks they were mobilized for vigorous actions and operations on the outskirts of major Romanian cities. According to a government press release, the government, farmers and truck drivers will soon meet to find the best solutions to the problems.

First meeting in Switzerland

In Switzerland, a procession of about thirty tractors marched through the streets of Geneva on Saturday to express the “revolt” and demands of Swiss farmers, the first gathering of its kind in the country since the farmers’ mobilization began in Europe.

This mobilization in Switzerland, which is not part of the European Union, was organized by the peasant organization Uniterre after another agricultural union, the Swiss Peasant Union, launched a petition this week with several demands, an action that some consider insufficient.

Access to Frankfurt Airport disrupted in Germany

Several hundred farmers on tractors protesting diesel tax reform blocked access to Frankfurt airport, Germany’s most important, on Saturday.

Around noon, police estimated that 400 tractors took part in the demonstration, and the Hessian farmers’ association reported 1,000 farm vehicles. In the afternoon, police said that “the organizers have officially stopped the demonstration at the airport. Therefore, all temporary closures have been lifted.”

The aim was to oppose proposed cuts to diesel subsidies and to highlight farmers’ concerns about their competitiveness. The plan was to hold the demonstration around the airport while leaving access routes to the terminals clear so as not to interfere with passengers flying on planes, the spokesman said.

Germany, known for its quality of social dialogue, has seen an increase in social conflicts in recent months amid worsening purchasing power following inflation. In addition to the mass mobilization of farmers, there are other social movements that are weakening the government coalition of Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is struggling with record unpopularity.