Bart Dickens, chairman of FDF, demands the resignation of Zuhal Demir.
The agricultural agreement is by no means positively received by all farmers. Farmers Defense Force, the interest group that has been most vocal in recent weeks, is even more furious than ever before. “They are not going to get away with this,” they warn.
“A big shame!” Bart Dickens, chairman of the Belgian branch of Farmers Defense Force (FDF), does not have to think long when we ask him what he thinks of the new agricultural agreement. He feels like he’s being left behind.
“They say that every agricultural organization was at the table, but we were not even heard,” he says with clear frustration in his voice. “And while FDF has a support base of approximately 4,500 people in our country. The farmers’ union and ABS (General Farmers’ Syndicate, ed.) should always have brought us to the table. The fact that they were able to approve such an agreement proves that they are completely incapable of negotiating.”
Dickens has not said a single positive word about the content of the agreement: “It makes no sense. Our main frustration was the nitrogen agreement and nothing has changed about that. However, this is based on lies and fraudulent figures. The industry is also still favored. They then point to Europe, but that’s nonsense. This is Flemish matter.”
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The Flemish government hopes that farmers will now stop taking action, but if the Farmers Defense Force has its way, that will not happen quickly. “We are even angrier than before. I have already received several telephone calls last night from furious farmers who believe that this is absolutely not possible. We are now busy preparing new actions. And you can be sure that this time we will come very hard. There is no brake anymore!”
Dickens does not yet want to provide concrete information about those actions. “That will become visible fairly quickly, because this is really no longer possible. They’re not going to get away with this. We want Demir’s dismissal. They pushed us aside, so they have to bear the consequences.”
“They’re not going to get away with this. We want Demir’s dismissal. They pushed us aside, so they have to bear the consequences.”
Bart Dickens
Farmers Defence Force
Bart Dickens, chairman of the Belgian branch of Farmers Defense Force.