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<h1><b>Blockade: EU Farmers topple and torch industrialist John
Cockerill’s statue; Welsh Farmers get
organised</b></h1><font size=4><b>
<a href="https://tlio.org.uk/blockade-eu-farmers-topple-and-torch-john-cockerills-statue-welsh-farmers-organise/" eudora="autourl">
https://tlio.org.uk/blockade-eu-farmers-topple-and-torch-john-cockerills-statue-welsh-farmers-organise/<br>
</a></b></font>
<a href="https://tlio.org.uk/blockade-eu-farmers-topple-and-torch-john-cockerills-statue-welsh-farmers-organise/">
4 February 2024</a> -
<a href="https://tlio.org.uk/blockade-eu-farmers-topple-and-torch-john-cockerills-statue-welsh-farmers-organise/#respond">
Leave a comment</a><br>
<font size=5><b>[oh yes and latest on Bristol Allotments battle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDtoqNPD3fM]<br>
</font><img src="cid:.0" width=1048 height=770 alt="Emacs!"><h3><b><br>
<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-68175942">Hundreds</a>
<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-68175942"> of farmers met at
Welshpool livestock market, in Powys, to object to Welsh government
policies on Thursday.<br><br>
<br>
</a></b></h3><h2><b>Farmers bring down Cockerill statue in Brussels
protest as 1,000 tractors block
roads</b></h2><img src="cid:.1" width=1314 height=584 alt="Emacs!"></b>
</h2><br>
<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/farmer-protest-tractors-eu-brussels-france-b2488790.html">
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/farmer-protest-tractors-eu-brussels-france-b2488790.html</a>
<br><br>
Protest on day of EU summit comes as France lays out concessions to
protesters leading to union bosses to call on farmers in the country to
go home<br><br>
Emmanuel Macron has said that Europes farming sector is facing a major
crisis and needs to profoundly change its rules after more than 1,000
tractors brought part of Brussels to a standstill, calling on EU leaders
to do more to support them with rising costs and environmental
rules.<br><br>
<h3><b>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/23/clean-cookstove-carbon-offsets-overstate-climate-benefit-by-1000-percent">
Background from The Guardian: Carbon offsets overstate climate benefit by
1,000%, study finds</a></b></h3>Farmers in several countries across
Europe have been blocking roads for days as part of protests, with France
particularly hard hit. Speaking after a leaderss summit in the Belgian
capital, the French president said that Europe is not deaf to the plight
of farmers and that simplified regulations across the EU would help. The
statement came after France laid out plans for some concessions to the
protesters, leading to unions to call on them to go home.<br><br>
Earlier in the day, farmers threw eggs and stones at the European
parliament, started fires near the building and toppled a statue of John
Cockerill a British-Belgian who helped Belgium’s industrial revolution
who the protesters potentially mistook for someone connected to the EU.
Small groups tried to tear down the barriers erected in front of the
parliament a few streets from where the leaders summit was taking place
but police fired tear gas and sprayed water at the farmers with hoses to
push them back.<br><br>
Major thoroughfares in Brussels were blocked by around 1,300 tractors,
according to police. Security personnel in riot gear stood guard behind
barriers where the leaders were meeting at European Council
headquarters.<br><br>
<h3><b><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-61020316">Background
from BBC: Carbon offset, tree planting schemes pricing out
farmers</a></b></h3>If you see with how many people we are here today,
and if you see its all over Europe, so you must have hope, said Kevin
Bertens, a farmer from just outside Brussels. You need us. Help
us!<br><br>
Farmers from Italy, Spain and other European countries took part in the
demonstration in Brussels, as well as continuing their protests at home.
In Portugal, farmers made their way to the Spanish border at the crack of
dawn to block some of the roads links between the two countries.<br><br>
One of Belgiums biggest supermarket chains Colruyt said on Thursday three
of its distribution centres were blocked by protesting farmers, leading
to disruptions in its supply chain. Centres located in Ollignies,
Ghislenghien and Halle in central western Belgium, which supply Colruyt’s
Belgian shops with dry food, water and drinks, and fresh and frozen
products, were no longer accessible.<br><br>
At the moment, stock is still available in our shops… [but] it is
inevitable that products will eventually be missing from the shelves,
Colruyt said in a statement, adding that it was difficult to make
definitive statements on timing as shops have different stock
levels.<br><br>
<h3><b>
<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/farmers-fight-back-across-europe/ar-BB1hGgKZ">
Background from Newsweek: Farmers Fight Back Across
Europe</a></b></h3>Colruyt Group has always focused on sourcing locally
as much as possible and succeeds very well in this for many categories,
the store chain said. It added it understood farmers concerns but did not
see blockades as a solution to them.<br><br>
In France, where farmers stepped up protests at the start of the week,
the impact of dozens of blockades is also being felt, said Eric Hemar,
the head of a federation of transport and logistics employers.<br><br>
We did a poll among our federation members: all transport firms are
impacted (by the farmers protest) and have lost over the past 10 days
about 30 per cent of their revenue, because we are not able to deliver on
time or with delays, he told France Info.<br><br>
In his latest speech aimed at easing tensions with angry farmers, Frances
prime minister Gabriel Attal earlier said France would enshrine in law
the principle that it should be self-reliant in food and it will tighten
import controls.<br><br>
Mr Attal, speaking at a press conference, also said the government will
stop imposing stricter regulation on its farmers than European Union
regulations require.<br><br>
It makes no sense to ban pesticides in France before such decisions are
taken on an EU level. We will end this practice, he said.<br><br>
<h3><b><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-60125398">Background
from BBC: Climate change or market change? Cold callers shock farmers
with tree-plant plea</a></b></h3>Detailing his agenda to boost Frances
agricultural sector, Europes largest, Mr Attal said it was out of the
question that France would agree to the Mercosur trade deal with Latin
American countries.<br><br>
He also said France will step up safety checks on food imports, notably
to make sure that imported foods do not have traces of pesticides that
are banned in France or the EU.<br><br>
The finance ministry said the new emergency measures for the sector,
focused largely on supporting struggling livestock farmers and wine
producers, would cost 400 million (340m), plus 200m in cash
advances.<br><br>
Union leaders called on their members to end the roadblocks in the wake
of the speech but said this came with the condition that the promises be
followed by concrete progress. They said they would give the government a
three-week deadline until the start of Frances giant Salon de
lAgriculture farming trade fair for the first results to show.<br><br>
From Monday, were going to get to work in the prefectures and ministries
to work on all the points that have been announced, said Arnaud Gaillot,
the head of the Young Farmers (Jeunes Agriculteurs) union.<br><br>
The protests across Europe come ahead of the European parliament
elections. While the farmers crisis was not officially on the agenda of
the EU summit, which focused on aid to Ukraine, an EU diplomat said the
situation with the farmers was likely to be discussed later in the
day.<br><br>
Farmers have already secured several measures, including the blocs
executive commission proposals to limit farm imports from Ukraine and
loosen some environmental regulations on fallow lands, which several EU
leaders welcomed as they arrived at the summit.<br><br>
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