The pictures below is not from a remote country in crisis but from the European Parliament in Brussels, where farmers from all over Europe gathered to protest what they say are excessive milk quotas and prices below the cost of production.
Yesterday an estimated number of 2500 farmers blocked roads around the EU quarter in Brussels, and then in front of the European Parliament they set fire to tyres, sprayed and pilled some 15,000 litres of fresh milk.
Today, the farmers who have stayed in Brussels plan to take their tractors to the centre of Brussels.
The two day “milk protest” sends a strong single to EU agriculture ministers who will meet in Brussels on Wed-Thurs to discuss the reform in EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).
The European Milk Board (EMB), who coordinated the demonstrations, said in a press release that the protest aims at drawing the attention of policy makers to the milk market in Europe, hoping it will lead to legislative change and to an increase of up to 25% of the milk prices.
With the smell of burnt tyres in the air, sights of rubbish and leftovers of milk, I’d say they indeed managed to capture our attention….
Greetings from the European Parliament,
Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg
Copyrights: EP Press service
copyrights: EP press service
A view from the European Parliament 