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Farmers who descended on Brussels to disrupt a leaders’ summit finally got their moment with senior EU figures on Thursday evening.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen met with farm lobby organizations after the summit, alongside Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Farmers’ protests have erupted across Europe in recent weeks, triggered by falling incomes, free-trade agreements and overall dissatisfaction with EU and national policies.
“We listen to European farmers … We are addressing short-term challenges,” von der Leyen posted on X during the meeting.
Earlier Thursday, von der Leyen told a news conference that the Commission would work with the Belgian presidency of the Council on a proposal to cut the administrative burden on farmers ahead of the next meeting of EU agriculture ministers.
She also reiterated that the EU executive will “address the structural challenges faced by the sector in our Strategic Dialogue” — an initiative she pitched during her annual State of the Union speech in September to make agricultural policy more inclusive.
“Not only in the Netherlands, but everywhere in Europe, farmers are faced with a lot of pressure,” Rutte said. “We must work together to achieve nature goals and combat climate change [and] maintain a strong farming sector that produces food for all of us.”
“The EU must now come up with concrete and pragmatic responses, far from the ideology and dogmatism developed by the European Commission in recent years,” EU farming lobby Copa-Cogeca said ahead of the meeting.
Also present at the meeting were the European young farmers organization CEJA, plus Walloon and Flemish farming organizations.
