The whole of Europe has been in the grip of protests by food producers, a group capable of organizing itself. In the past, it was able to lobby for its interests at both national and EU levels, but now they feel their future is very much under threat.
This is why across Europe, farmers are radicalizing and even shaping public opinion. The widespread nature of the protests has taken the European establishment by surprise, and the Eurocrats are currently busy trying to placate the farmers and find explanations for what is going on. They are trying to blame the protests on “poor communications” and populists in an attempt to deflect, gaslight, and even openly fight back against a movement they fear could gain even further momentum.
In Poland, the liberal media are spinning the conflict as being about competition from Ukraine. This is handy since the liberals in Poland can then blame the former conservative government for having failed to spot the problem and deal with it, arguing that the previous government was too susceptible to Ukrainian influence. The message is that the government introduced the embargo on Ukrainian agricultural products late in the day and failed to control the border.
This is a desperate attempt to avoid describing the real problem, the Green Deal. The Ukraine issue is a symptom and not the cause. The opening of that border with Ukraine is after all very much a part of the Green Deal, which is trying to cut production in Europe to reduce emissions by introducing ever-stricter standards and regulations. Food is to come from big international companies with their holdings in Ukraine, South America, and in the future, Russia. There will be no room here for the EU’s farmers.
The EU’s green revolution is a classic example of magical thinking that you can somehow transform leading economies into zero-emission producers in a short period of time. Farmers are the first major social group who have said “no” to this approach. Now, the shock therapy of climate policies is being contested, and the EU establishment should take note.
However, the establishment is unlikely to back down. They will continue to maintain that the protests are about something else, but soon other social groups will join in opposing these policies: the chemical industry, the trucking industry, car owners required to switch to electric, homeowners required to spend a fortune on making their property adapt to new standards, and all those who are being forced into energy poverty. This would actually be a majority of the population, so stay tuned.
