Summary of the day
Farmers have continued protesting in France and Belgium.
The European Commission, responding to pressure, proposed to allow EU farmers exemptions this year from common agricultural policy rules obliging them to keep certain areas non-productive.
The European farming lobby said “this decision comes late in the agricultural calendar and remains limited”, calling on EU leaders to do more.
The commission also proposed renewing the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports to the EU, but said that it would reinforce protections “for sensitive EU agricultural products”.
An NGO criticised the move, arguing that it harms biodiversity and calling the proposal “another day of shame”.
Ahead of a key EU leaders’ summit tomorrow, pressure grew on Hungary to agree to a financial aid package for Ukraine.
The European parliament’s biggest political groups called on the heads of state and government to quickly approve financial assistance to Kyiv.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, called on citizens to reject the far right and made the case for a stronger European Union.
Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, said his embassy had been “subject to an attempted attack” and thanked the Swedish authorities for their swift response.
Stay tuned for our live blog tomorrow for updates from the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels.
Updated
Farming lobby says EU commission proposal 'late' and 'limited'
Responding to the European Commission’s proposal today to provide an exemption to rules of fallow lands, the European farming lobby Copa and Cogeca said the move remained limited, calling on EU leaders to do more.
During the past few months, farmers across the EU have been severely impacted by extreme weather events and trade disruptions linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine all of which have had severe impact on farming activities and the food supply chain.
Consequently, this has created difficulties for farmers in the common agricultural policy (CAP) implementation, with repercussions for the 2024 agricultural year. Copa and Cogeca have repeatedly asked the European Commission to consider derogations from CAP conditionality (e.g. GAEC 6, 7 and 8), eco-schemes and agri-environment-climate commitments which build on these, for 2024. We called for a common action to address these severe difficulties.
Today, under pressure from the demonstrations, the president of the European Commission has announced a “one-year derogation from CAP rules on fallow lands”. Revised conditions for GAEC 8 were part of the greater flexibility expected by farmers.
Copa and Cogeca take note of this advance, but this decision comes late in the agricultural calendar and remains limited.
We hope that member states will further strengthen this proposal to have a more global approach especially in member states that have been particular impacted by extreme climate events, during the European Council meeting tomorrow.
Updated
‘Day of shame': NGO blasts European Commission proposal on fallow lands
Ariel Brunner, a director at BirdLife Europe, said today that it was “another day of shame” as the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, “caves in”.
He argued the commission proposal exempting farmers from rules on fallow lands “allows destroying flowerstrips and fallows again – it won’t increase production but if it did it would just depress prices further”.
The proposal, he said, “further locks farmers into dependency on [the] chemical industry” and “harms biodiversity, increases floods etc”.
Another day of shame as @vonderleyen caves in, allows destroying flowerstrips and fallows again
— Ariel Brunner🇺🇦 (@ArielBrunner) January 31, 2024
-it won't increase production but if it did it would just depress prices further
-further locks farmers into dependency on chemical industry
-harms biodiversity, increases floods etc https://t.co/nN3dDyfqeZ
Updated
'We will not be intimidated by terror', Israeli ambassador to Sweden says
Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, said his embassy had been “subject to an attempted attack” and thanked the Swedish authorities for their swift response.
A suspicious object was found outside the embassy. Police said they believed it to be an explosive device and that it would be destroyed.
“We will not be intimidated by terror,” Kulman said.
Today we were subject to an attempted attack against the Embassy of Israel in Stockholm and its employees. We thank the Swedish authorities for their swift response. We will not be intimidated by terror.
— Ziv Nevo Kulman 🇮🇱🎗️ (@zivnk) January 31, 2024
Updated
Christiane Lambert, the president of the farming lobby Copa Cogeca, also welcomed the European Commission’s proposal.
“Finally!” she wrote on social media. “Faced with climatic and geopolitical disruptions, the lack of grain availability is recognised.”
Enfin !
— Christiane Lambert (@ChLambert_FNSEA) January 31, 2024
La décision tant attendue de dérogation pr cultiver 4% de terres en jachères est annoncée par @vonderleyen .
Face aux perturbations climatiques &géopolitiques le manque de disponibilité céréales est reconnu !
Go pour semis de printemps !@COPACOGECA @FNSEA @JeunesAgri https://t.co/Imxt5PedUD
Updated
Lennart Nilsson, a member of the national board of the Federation of Swedish Farmers, thanked the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, for Wednesday’s proposal for a one-year exemption from rules on fallow land.
Thank you @vonderleyen for listening to us farmers, this was one of three issues we lifted in our letter earlier today https://t.co/P5fiKuIvDN
— Lennart Nilsson (@LennartN_LRF) January 31, 2024
Looking forward to further dialogue! https://t.co/w1av1YPm5L
Updated
Reacting to the European Commission’s announcements on agricultural policy, the Belgian prime minister, Alexander De Croo, said it was a “first important stage for our farmers.”
He said:
I am for another postponement. Fewer administrative burdens, often imposed by Europe. And a fair price for the hard work of farmers.
Belgium currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.
Première étape importante pour nos agriculteurs.
— Alexander De Croo 🇧🇪🇪🇺 (@alexanderdecroo) January 31, 2024
Je suis pour un nouveau report.
Moins de charges administratives, souvent imposées par l'Europe.
Et un prix juste pour le dur labeur des agriculteurs et agricultrices. https://t.co/yjf6eJIbLi
Updated
What about imports from Ukraine?
As farmers’ protests continue in various European countries, there is a growing discussion about imports from Ukraine.
The European Commission proposed renewing the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports to the EU on Wednesday, but also said that it would reinforce protections “for sensitive EU agricultural products”.
So-called Autonomous Trade Measures (ATMs) for Ukraine has been in place since June 2022.
The commission said in a statement:
While the main objective of the ATMs is to support Ukraine, the measures are also mindful of EU farmers’ and other stakeholders’ sensitivities.
To this end, and considering a significant increase in imports of some agricultural products from Ukraine to the EU in 2022 and 2023, the renewed ATMs contain a reinforced safeguard mechanism. This makes sure that quick remedial action can be taken in case of significant disruptions to the EU market, or to the markets of one or more Member States.
For the most sensitive products – poultry, eggs and sugar – an emergency brake is foreseen which would stabilise imports at the average import volumes in 2022 and 2023.
This means that if imports of these products were exceeding those volumes, tariffs would be reimposed to ensure that import volumes do not significantly exceed those of previous years.
Updated
The Latvian prime minister, Evika Siliņa, has said ahead of tomorrow’s summit that it is time for the bloc to meet its commitments to Ukraine.
As Ukraine defends its homeland, they’re also making strides in reforms. It’s time for the EU to fulfil our commitments of financial support.
Coordinating with 🇺🇦 Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna ahead of a crucial #EUCO meeting. As 🇺🇦 defends its homeland, they're also making strides in reforms. It's time for the #EU to fulfill our commitments of 🇪🇺 financial support. pic.twitter.com/EwcDheOcsz
— Evika Siliņa 🇱🇻🇺🇦 (@EvikaSilina) January 31, 2024
Updated
Scholz makes case against far-right and for stronger EU
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has called on citizens to reject the far right and made the case for a stronger European Union.
“The word ‘remigration’ is reminiscent of the darkest times in German history,” Scholz said, according to Reuters.
He also argued that leaving the EU would lead to “the greatest destruction of prosperity that could happen to Germany and Europe”.
If the world becomes even more difficult, for example if you look at what is possible in the US election, then the European Union must become all the stronger.
Updated
What's on the menu for tomorrow's summit?
Leaders from the EU’s 27 member states are gathering for a summit on Thursday.
A key issue will be financial aid to Ukraine, as leaders seek to convince Hungary’s Viktor Orbán to agree to a long-term assistance package.
In a letter to the leaders, the European Council president, Charles Michel, stressed the need to come to an agreement on amending the bloc’s long-term budget, which is known as the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) and runs until 2027.
Securing agreement is vital for our credibility, and not least for our commitment to provide steadfast support to Ukraine. The onus lies squarely on us to find a solution and to deliver.
He also underscored the importance of military assistance to Kyiv.
Given the circumstances, we will also take this opportunity to further urgently address all aspects of our military assistance to Ukraine. This includes the delivery of ammunition, in line with our March 2023 European Council conclusions, and adjusting relevant EU instruments to deliver aid faster, while complementing bilateral efforts.
To achieve this, we have to continue our donations, adapt orders and place new ones – which will also boost our European defence industry.
He also the leaders would discuss the situation in the Middle East.
The dramatic events in the Middle East demand our utmost focus. All hostages detained by Hamas have to be released without any pre-conditions. Our discussion should be framed around a number of key issues. In light of worrying regional developments, we need to address security issues, continue encouraging restraint and discuss measures to prevent further regional escalation, especially in the Red Sea.
In addition, we must urgently contribute to remedying the devastating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Lastly, we should discuss how to revive the political process for a two-state solution – the only viable option that can bring sustainable peace for both Israelis and Palestinians and enhanced regional security. Overall, our efforts should aim at ensuring that international law and international humanitarian law are upheld by all.
Updated
European parliament groups call on leaders to approve aid for Ukraine
Ahead of tomorrow’s summit of EU leaders in Brussels, the European parliament’s biggest political groups have called on the heads of state and government to quickly approve financial assistance to Kyiv.
Russia shows no signs of stopping its war of aggression against Ukraine. Therefore, the EU must show no signs of stopping its support to Ukraine. Those who doubt our resolve and undermine our unity must be proven wrong.
We urge the European Council and the member states to live up to their promises, ensure effective and sustainable long-term military support to Ukraine and to step up the efforts to deliver the ammunition and military support that the Ukrainian defence forces so urgently need.
We expect the European Council to agree on the economic and financial support proposed under the Ukraine facility that will help Ukraine maintain essential services to its citizens, such as schools, hospitals and social security, and will support the country’s economic and social recovery and reconstruction.
Further delays or annual vetoes are not an option.
The statement was signed by Manfred Weber, the chair centre-right European People’s party group; Iratxe Garcia Pérez, the chair of the Socialists and Democrats group; Valérie Hayer, chair of the Renew Europe group; Terry Reintke and Philippe Lamberts, the co-chairs of the Greens; and Ryszard Antoni Legutko and Nicola Procaccini, the co-chairs of the European Conservatives and Reformists group.
Updated
In summary, here’s what has just happened in Brussels:
Farmers have won their first concessions from the EU after weeks of protests across France, Germany, Belgium and Italy.
EU leaders will be asked to sign off on a European Commission proposal to delay a rule requiring farmers to set aside between 4% and 7% of their land as fallow as part of an effort to restore soil health and increase biodiversity.
That rule will not now come into effect until 2025.
Updated
Asked if the derogation of the set-aside rule would be enough to placate farmers who are protesting, also against what they see as a burden of new EU regulation coming down the tracks, Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission executive vice-president, was blunt.
“We have to make sure that Europe will become a continent which will be habitable also in the future,” he said.
He said the new nature restoration laws along with moves to prevent floods, fires and other weather-related disasters, were designed to ensure “farmers can have healthy crops and they have solid incomes”.
With an eye perhaps on the link being made between the radical rightwing political parties and the nature restoration laws, he admitted that the dialogue with farmers “had to intensify”.
“We have to avoid the polarisation which is making any good conversation and discussion more difficult. Therefore, I would say we see our relationship with the farmers as one of clear political priorities for the commission,” he said.
The press conference is now over.
Updated
A row of tractors is parked, flanked by police cars, close to the European parliament in Brussels.
Farmers are protesting in the Belgian capital on Wednesday and Thursday.
Updated
Šefčovič is being asked again why the EU has taken the decision now. Was it really because of farmer protests?
He tells reporters it is because of the “combination of factors” he has described , and that the “economics of agriculture” has also been hit by high energy prices.
“We feel we are obliged to act under this pressure, which [the] farming community [is feeling],” he said, adding that the idea behind the set-aside rule was to promote the regeneration of healthy soil.
Under the rules farmers can leave land fallow or grow nitrogen-fixing crops such as lentils.
Updated
Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission’s executive vice-president responsible for the European green deal, is making a passionate defence of farmers at a briefing with reporters.
He said the decision to delay the set-aside rule was taken because farmers had had an exceptionally tough year as a result of floods, wildfires and exceptional heatwave and droughts linked to climate change last summer.
“We have had a number of extreme meteorological events, droughts flooding in various parts of the Europe and there was a clear negative effect on the output on the revenue, and of course, decreased income for the farmers and it created heavy pressures on farmers,” he said.
“I met with the president of Andalusia, he was telling me that the water reservoirs are at 20% level or in some parts of Andalusia 4%. What kind of dramatic changes does that require to sustain the agriculture and economic model? What kind of percentages are lost in the GDP? Let’s look at Greece. The whole agriculture sector because of the fires and floods was, if I’m not mistaken, more than 20% of the annual revenue.”
Šefčovič told reporters the value of cereal production had dropped by 30%.
Updated
Farmers' lobby says family farming 'in danger'
“The survival of European family farming as it is known today is in danger,” Europe’s biggest farming lobby said on Wednesday.
In an open letter to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, lobby group Copa Cogeca blamed the protests on farmers not being heard.
Economic burdens and bureaucracy are strangling farmers across the EU. Across the EU, the effects of climatic and geopolitical crises are impacting our farms considerably. And all this with the feeling that more constraints and more European regulations are going to be imposed on farms, with severe and irreversible consequences on production, income and increase of imports with less environmental and social standards.
Efforts to curb pollution or make farmers pay more for fuel such as diesel have sparked protests in several European countries in recent weeks. The EU spends about a third of its budget on its common agricultural policy, mostly in the form of direct payment to farmers, and the sector does not have to pay the costs of its planet-heating pollution.
Scientists, meanwhile, have warned of worsening crop failures and yield losses as Europe heats up and its wildlife dies out.
The latest round of protests comes just a week after Von der Leyen launched a “strategic dialogue on the future of EU agriculture”.
Copa Cogeca said it welcomed the long-term discussion but called for short-term answers on environmental rules and trade. The group singled out the Mercosur free-trade agreement between several South American countries as unacceptable for most EU farmers.
At this moment, a continuous push for getting the deal across the line will be perceived as a further provocation by the farming community, and will increase the rejection for decisions taken by the European Commission.
Updated
Commission says proposed delay for set-aside rule a 'helping hand' for farmers
Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission vice-president responsible for environmental policymaking, said the delay until 2025 of a new set-aside rule for farmers was “a helping hand’ for the sector at a difficult time.
He said:
In recent months and years, European farmers have found themselves under increasing pressure from many sides, climate change and the loss of biodiversity combined with geopolitical turmoil and soaring energy prices.
He also said they were facing higher production costs and a squeezing of revenues.
“For instance, the value of cereal production in the European Union dropped by nearly 30% in 2023,” he said.
The Commission believes that by taking the stabilising action, we can help alleviate the pressure that we know our farmers are feeling in order to ensure that they can stay economically viable during these times of high uncertainty.
The proposal has to be approved by member states.
“The ball is now in the courts of the member states who must decide whether to turn our proposal into reality. If so, the derogation would apply retroactively, as of January 2024,” said Šefčovič.
Updated
We spoke to a young Belgian farmer, Sylvain Dardenne.
He was sitting in his tractor in a street lined with parked tractors and flanked by police cars a few blocks away from the European parliament, when we approached him with questions.
He explained that he was concerned about free-trade agreements and products coming into the European market that, in his view, did not have to meet the same standards.
I spoke with a young Belgian farmer who was sitting in his tractor a few blocks from the European Parliament today.
— Lili Bayer (@liliebayer) January 31, 2024
Here he explains his concerns to the @guardian. pic.twitter.com/FwPWt2pqzi
Updated
European Commission recommends delay in fallow land rules
The European Commission is recommending that EU leaders delay the introduction of rules that require farmers to keep a certain amount of land fallow or non-productive.
Opposition to the set-aside rules has partly fuelled the farmer protests across Europe in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Italy.
Under the proposal the rule would not apply until next year.
“The commission’s proposal, sent today to member states who will vote on it in a committee meeting, provides a first concrete policy response to address farmers’ income concerns. It also follows requests outlined by several member states in agriculture council meetings,” the commission said in a statement.
Updated
Farmers protest in Belgium
Farmers in Belgium are also continuing to protest. The authorities have advised people not to come to Brussels by car on Wednesday and Thursday.
Updated
‘The populists lied to the British,’ leading MEP says
Valérie Hayer, a French politician and president of the Renew Europe group in the European parliament, has spoken out about the impact of Brexit.
“Four years ago, the United Kingdom left us,” she wrote, adding:
Purchasing power, social security, global influence, border protection: nothing, absolutely nothing, has been a success. The populists lied to the British.
Il y a quatre ans, le Royaume-Uni nous quittait. Tous les sondages depuis montrent le drame créé par le Brexit.
— Valérie Hayer (@ValerieHayer) January 31, 2024
Pouvoir d’achat, sécurité sociale, influence mondiale, protection des frontières : rien, absolument rien, n’a été un succès. Les populistes ont menti aux Britanniques.
Updated
Marine Le Pen tops French barometer
The French far-right politician Marine Le Pen has come out in first place in Le Figaro Magazine’s barometer of top 10 political personalities in France.
For the study, people were asked to rate political figures, based on whether they would like to see them play an important role over the months and years to come.
Le Pen came in at 40%, followed closely by Édouard Philippe, a former prime minister. Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 28-year old political ally, came in third.
The study also found that only 24% have confidence in the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
The poll, which was conducted by Verian-EPOKA for Le Figaro Magazine, also found that 33% have confidence in Gabriel Attal, the new prime minister.
Polling was conducted between 28-30 January.
Updated
Here are the latest images from France this morning, as farmers block highways.
2 dead and 57 rescued near Lesbos
Greece rescued 57 migrants close to the island of Lesbos and recovered the bodies of two people, the coastguard said, Reuters reported. Another person is believed to be missing.
Updated
Approximately 10,000 people protesting this morning, French minister says
Speaking this morning, the French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said that there are more than 100 blocking points and about 10,000 demonstrators today.
🔴🗣️ "Les agriculteurs ne sont pas des délinquants [...] et il n'est pas question de les évacuer"
— Telematin (@telematin) January 31, 2024
Gérald Darmanin rappelle ses "lignes rouges" : ne pas rentrer dans Paris, Rungis ou les aéroports parisiens. #Les4V @GDarmanin #BlocusDeParis pic.twitter.com/G3jXLsJ0dc
French farmers continue protesting as government turns to Brussels
It’s another day of protests in France, as farmers continue blocking roads.
Marc Fesneau, the agriculture minister, is set to hold talks in Brussels later today.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is expected to discuss concerns related to the agriculture sector with the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, in Brussels tomorrow.
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Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.
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