Farmers’ protests have erupted across Europe. Here’s why

Farmers are holding protests across Europe, clogging the streets with their tractors, blocking ports and pelting the European Parliament with eggs over a long list of complaints from environmental regulation to excessive red tape.

Farmers are holding protests across Europe, clogging the streets with their tractors, blocking ports and pelting the European Parliament with eggs over a long list of complaints from environmental regulation to excessive red tape. “We are no longer making a living from our profession,” one aggrieved farmer in Paris told CNN. While some of the most dramatic protests have been in France, similar action has been taking place in a host of countries including Italy, Spain, Romania, Poland, Greece, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands. Farming makes up just 1.4% of the European Union’s GDP, the latest figures show, but protests in Eastern Europe last year over cheap Ukrainian imports – which saw lengthy blockades at border crossings – show how farmers as a group are capable of causing major disruption. Both national governments and the EU are now under pressure to quell the fresh demonstrations. CNN takes a closer look at the factors involved.