People power works, especially when accompanied by heavy machinery. The farmers are our foot soldiers; their tractors are our tanks..t.co/wl0GtKthXj pic.twitter.com/0FpgOzM08j
— Tess Summers 🏴🇮🇪 (@tesssummers98) February 6, 2024
The European Union’s executive arm has shelved an anti-pesticides proposal in yet another concession to farmers after weeks of protests blocked major capitals and economic lifelines across the 27-nation bloc.
Although the proposal had languished in EU institutions for the past two years, the move by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was the latest indication that the bloc is willing to sacrifice environmental priorities to keep the farming community on its side.
Farmers have insisted that measures such as the one on pesticides would only increase bureaucratic burdens and keep them behind laptops instead of farming, adding to the price gap between their products and cheap imports produced by foreign farmers without similar burdens.