Europe's angry farmers and EU funds for Ukraine (finally)

EU Confidential

POLITICO

Politics, News Commentary, News

4.4 • 175 Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2024

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As farmer protests continue around Europe, we unpack their various concerns and analyze their impact on the European election. We also take you to an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders in Brussels where crucial cash for Ukraine hung in the balance. Host Sarah Wheaton speaks to POLITICO's Parliament reporter Eddy Wax among the thousands of tractors and angry farmers in the heart of Brussels. Later in the episode, our in-house experts explain what's behind the farmers' uprising and what impact the protests could have on the EU's ambitious green agenda and the upcoming EU election. We're joined by Clea Caulcutt in Paris, Matthew Karnitschnig in Berlin, senior climate correspondent Karl Mathiesen, and agriculture reporter Bartosz Brzezinski. And we hear from a protesting farmer in France, who spoke to our colleague Victor Goury-Laffont about his top concerns. Also in the episode, we head across town to an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders. POLITICO's chief Brussels correspondent Barbara Moens and senior diplomatic correspondent Jacopo Barigazzi explain the successful outcome after weeks of intense negotiations on financial aid for Ukraine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:33.3	Okay, so I grew up in a suburb. I live my whole adult life in the city, and right now I am standing next to a tractor wheel that is taller than me.
0:45.2	There are tractors everywhere all over the main thoroughfares of Brussels and completely taking over Place du Luxembourg right in front of the parliament.
0:53.5	It's a scene of farmers and explosions of, I don't even know what, burning tires,
1:00.7	there's smoke everywhere in case the tractors were not enough.
1:05.8	These are farmers, and the explosions are telling you they are angry.
1:13.0	So just as I was meeting up with my producers here on Plus Lux, I was feeling kind of disoriented.
1:20.1	But then I bumped into my colleague, Eddie Wax, perfect man for the moment.
1:24.3	He used to be an agricultural reporter here at Politico.
1:26.3	Now he covers the parliament.
1:32.2	And he's been walking around figuring what the heck is going on. You've been here all morning. What are you seeing? Well, it's pretty impressive the protest. I haven't seen anything
1:35.7	this scale in front of the parliament for years. We've got farmers from all different parts of
1:39.4	Europe, Spanish, Italian, Belgian, lots of Flemish farmers that have come down. The streets are totally rammed with their tractors.
1:45.8	There's the smell of manure and straw strewn all over the streets. It's kind of a festive atmosphere, but also quite an angry atmosphere.
1:51.9	Basically, the farmers are here because they are pissed off. They want to direct their anger about economic difficulties they're in,
1:58.5	the sense of over-regulation of their agricultural activities.
2:02.8	I spoke to one young Flemish farmer who's 26 years old, said he was called Brecht, and he said
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