Farmers are blocking key roads between Belgium and the Netherlands in the latest sign of their anger
ABC News
Farmers have parked their tractors across key road crossings on the border between Belgium and the Netherlands in their latest protest against excessive red tape and competition from cheap imports
BRUSSELS -- Farmers parked their tractors across key road crossings on the border between Belgium and the Netherlands on Friday in their latest protest against excessive red tape and competition from cheap imports.
The roadblocks, mainly by Belgian farmers with support of some Dutch colleagues, choked highways that are vital transport routes for freight from the major European ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. They were set up after a day of chaos Thursday in Brussels, where angry farmers torched hay bales and threw eggs and firecrackers at police near a summit of European Union leaders.
While blockades sprang up on the Belgian-Dutch border, they were gradually easing around Paris and elsewhere in France after the French government on Thursday offered over 400 million euros ($436 million) in various measures. In Germany, however, lawmakers on Friday approved cuts to fuel subsidies for farmers that have prompted angry protests there.
Jan Jambon, the prime minister of Belgium's Flemish region, pledged to help the agriculture sector.
“We are going to see what we can reasonably do. But basically, I have a lot of sympathy for their complaints. We are now going to see how we can make that concrete," he told Belgian broadcaster VTM.