Over the past week, agricultural protests have continued to intensify across Europe after the European Union voted to approve a free trade agreement with the Mercosur trade bloc, comprising the South American countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The deal was finalized despite negative votes from France, Poland, Austria, Ireland, and Hungary and an abstention from Belgium, where local farmers have argued that the deal will depress prices and provide European consumers with less well-regulated products.
Since the deal was passed on January 9, ongoing farmers’ protests have intensified in France and Greece, and new protests have begun in countries including Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Austria, Poland, and Hungary. Farmers have sought to blockade major highways and city centers, as well as border crossings, ports, and airports. These demonstrations have led to reports of logistics disruptions throughout Europe. Further protests are expected to continue before the deal is set to be formally signed on January 17.
Protestors target highways and logistics sites across Europe
Some of the most disruptive demonstrations have occurred in France, where farmers’ protests have been ongoing since December 10 due to initial concerns about an outbreak of lumpy-skin disease among cattle. These earlier protests saw blockades across the country that mainly affected highway transportation.
However, in January, protestors shifted their attention to opposing the Mercosur agreement, continuing disruptive motorway blockades and threatening cross-border traffic at border crossings with Spain and Belgium.
Additionally, in the last several days, protesters have begun directly targeting logistics sites, including the Port of Le Havre and an oil depot at the Port of La Rochelle. Protests are expected to intensify in the coming days, culminating in a rally at the European Parliament headquarters in Strasbourg on January 20.
In Greece, farmers have also continued ongoing protests while shifting their focus partly to the Mercosur agreement. Greek farmers first launched nationwide demonstrations on November 23 over a delay in subsidy payments, rising energy costs, and lower incomes. Since then, protestors have also sought to blockade major highways and border crossings, including border posts with Albania, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia.
Due to business losses caused by blockades of the Greece-Bulgaria border, the Bulgarian government has filed an official complaint against Greece, arguing that Bulgarian logistics companies and exporters had been severely impacted and that the blockades further violated European Union regulations. Additionally, protestors have targeted disruptions in and around Thessaloniki, where farmers further blockaded roads near the Port and Airport of Thessaloniki.
Protests have also intensified in Spain and Belgium. In Spain, localized protests broke out in the Galicia and Catalonia regions immediately following the announcement of the trade deal. Further protests are expected in the coming days in several cities, including on the Spanish side of the Biriatou-Irun border crossing with France.
In Belgium, small urban protests also broke out following the ruling, while blockades at Ostend-Bruges International Airport (IATA: OST) in Ostend have caused significant delays to the offloading of cargo from the facility. Additional blockades and protests have been reported in several other E.U. member states, including Ireland, Poland, Austria, and Hungary, although logistics impacts have not been confirmed in these regions.
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