Ursula von der Leyen's European Union was the target of the protests (Image: GETTY)
Furious protests which brought Brussels to a standstill this week will not stop until the bloc addresses the concerns of farmers, an expert has warned.
Demonstrators sprayed police officers with liquid manure and threw eggs and flares during a demonstration timed to coincide with a meeting of EU agriculture ministers. At one point water cannons were used to douse a large mound of burning tires.
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Farmers are angry at red tape and competition from cheap imports from countries where the EU's relatively high standards do not have to be met, which they say puts them at an unfair advantage.
Pieter Cleppe, editor of BrusselsReport.eu, who is himself based in the Belgian capital, said the scenes were “embarrassing” and “ not a good look” for the bloc - and pointed to similar protests in France, Spain and elsewhere as evidence of rising frustration.
He told Express.co.uk: “This is a big deal. Farmer protests across Europe are continuing, because the EU has only made minor concessions to farmers so far, only reducing some bureaucratic burdens, but leaving in place most of the green rules that are complicating farming.”
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A convoy of tractors in Brussels (Image: REX/Shutterstock)
Mr Cleppe explained: “The farmer grievances across Europe are quite diverse.
“For example, they are angry about cuts to some national and EU subsidies, but these are for the most part compensation for a central planning straitjacket, mostly controlled at the EU level, which many farmers have never asked for.
“Still, EU green policies, constraining farming in many different ways, are at the core of the protests.
“A lot of those rules are also making farmers more hostile to trade deals, given that they find it unfair to have to comply with much more stringent green regulation than importers.”
In response, the EU was attempting to impose its green standards on potential trade partners in Latin America and South East Asia, Mr Cleppe pointed out.
Riot police in Brussels as protests erupt (Image: REX/Shutterstock)
However, he added: “This is however trade friction with those trading partners, as for example palm oil exporters from Malaysia find it unfair that the EU refuses to recognise their local MSPO deforestation standard as insufficient, an issue which caused Malaysia and Indonesia to freeze trade talks with Brussels last year.
“In contrast, the UK government does recognise the standards of its trading partners in this area, also as NGOs like Global Forest Watch have been lauding Malaysia's deforestation results.
“The moral of the story: as long a Brussels refuses to axe a number of green regulations, it will fail to close new trade deals, but it will also fail to appease farmers.
“It’s pretty complex to scrap EU rules so as long as this does not happen, farmers are likely to continue with their protests.”
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French protesters as President Emmanuel Macron arrives at the 60th International Agriculture Fair (Image: REX/Shutterstock)
Police estimated that 900 tractors entered the city on Monday, many bearing down on the European Council building where the ministers were meeting.
Smoke drifted through the air near where police in riot gear sheltered behind concrete barriers and barbed wire, firing tear gas and water cannons at the protesting farmers. Scores of tractors also lined up down main roads leading to the city’s European quarter, snarling traffic and blocking public transport.
Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden urged police to identify “rioters” who hurt people or disobeyed instructions from officers.
She tweeted: "The right to protest is dear to us so it must be used with respect.”
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Marieke Van De Vivere, a farmer from the Ghent region in northern Belgium, said: “We are getting ignored,” .
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She urged ministers “to be reasonable to us, to come with us on a day to work on the field, or with the horses or with the animals, to see that it is not very easy because of the rules they put on us”.
The protests were the latest in a series of rallies and demonstrations by farmers across the continent.
The previous Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron was booed at the opening of the Paris Agricultural Fair by farmers who accused him of not doing enough to support them. Spain, the Netherlands and Bulgaria have been hit by protests in recent weeks.
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