The farmers will gather at 11 a.m. at Schumanplein, in the European district in Brussels. The majority of the participants in the demonstration will travel from early in the morning via various approaches to be present before the start of the EU meeting. As a result, major traffic disruptions are possible in the capital and on the access roads during the morning rush hour.
The police will therefore close Wetstraat on Monday morning from 6 a.m. between the Schuman roundabout and the R20, the small Brussels ring road, as well as the Reyers tunnel coming from the E40 towards the center and the Cinquantenaire tunnel towards Wetstraat.
“The small Brussels ring road can be inaccessible to car traffic at certain times, as can the Arts-Loi intersection. The streets in the vicinity of Wetstraat and the European district may also experience traffic disruption,” it said.
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The police therefore advise commuters to take public transport as much as possible, with a preference for the metro and train, or to use other means of transport. The STIB mainly expects disruption on the tram lines and calls on travelers to take the metro or pre-metro.
The action is an initiative of the European organization Via Campesina (ECVC), which represents small and medium-sized agricultural companies. On the Flemish side, the General Farmers’ Syndicate (ABS), Farmers’ Forum and the United Young Farmers are represented. The most important farmers’ organizations from Wallonia participate, such as Fugea, FWA (Fédération Wallonne de l’agriculture) and the young farmers of FJA (Fédération des jeunes agriculteurs).
The organizations ask the European Union, among other things, to withdraw from free trade agreements, such as with the Mercosur countries. The treaty between the EU and Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay will be discussed in Brussels on Monday and aims to allow cheap products onto each other’s markets. And that is disastrous for Western European farmers “who have been making great efforts for years to produce ecological, sustainable and safe food and are now under pressure to produce cheaper because of this deal,” according to the independent young farmers.
The participants in the campaign also demand, among other things, fair prices, a fully-fledged agricultural and food policy and an adjustment of the nitrogen decree. Finally, they demand that agricultural land be kept agricultural and therefore not become a nature reserve or forest.
At an earlier demonstration in Brussels, on February 1, more than a thousand tractors paralyzed the capital. It is still unclear how many tractors will travel to Brussels on Monday, but it cannot be ruled out that there will be as many or even more.
Avoiding the capital by car is therefore the message.