The statue of the worker Beaufort lies on the pavement of the Place du Luxembourg in front of the European Parliament.
His head is now lying next to a fire set with wood and tires.
A fatal wound to the monument erected in 1872 in memory of the Belgian-British industrialist John Cockerill which contains the anger of European farmers.
Less than a kilometer from the Europa Building, where the leaders are gathered for an extraordinary summit called to find a balance on the priorities of the EU budget - aid to Kiev first and foremost -, the siege of over a thousand tractors in Brussels takes place and at the heart of Europe
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"This is not the EU we want", is the cry of discontent that rises from the over two thousand demonstrators who have arrived from half the continent.
The first openings announced by the European Commission on fallow land and the protections on the import of zero-duty foodstuffs from Ukraine are not sufficient.
The request of the main acronyms in the sector - with Italy represented by Coldiretti - is to abandon the rigid constraints of the new CAP and the Green Deal.
The tractor protest
All fronts on which, according to the criticism of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the League, "Europe has made a lot of mistakes" and now "change" is needed to "not sacrifice productive sectors on the altar of green ideology".
Rue du Luxembourg, rue Montoyer, rue de Trèves, rue Belliard.
The predicted perfect political storm four months before the European elections finally hits the European neighborhood besieged by a huge convoy of thirteen hundred vehicles which invades the area surrounding an armored European Parliament with the sound of horns.
It is around ten in the morning that the situation risks worsening and turning into an urban guerrilla war.
The demonstrators throw bottles, eggs and firecrackers at the European Chamber headquarters and try to break down the barriers, but are met with water cannons from the police deployed in riot gear
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Then the chants and posters sum up the demands that become louder: 'Without farmers there is no food', 'No more free trade agreements', 'Stop unfair practices and synthetic food', 'No to green constraints' , 'Free farmers!'.
A reminder that bounces back to the EU leaders committed to negotiating with Viktor Orban.
And keeping the dossier high on the agenda is Emmanuel Macron, who has been besieged by the green vests for almost a month now, calling for "a European fight on agriculture".
He is based on "an egalitarianism" capable of "defending the incomes" of farmers and "protecting European food sovereignty" with "tangible" simplifications of the CAP.
The answers given so far are not sufficient in the eyes of the sector.
Yet, Meloni observed, at the end of the legislature a change of line could come "only after the European elections".
A time during which farmers' demands remain the same: higher incomes and stronger protections even from unfair competition from the rest of the world at the top.
The exasperation, in the words of the League to reiterate the recent frontal attack by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, is caused by the "extremist and wicked policy conceived by Timmermans and carried out by von der Leyen".
Video Farmers protest, tractors and fires in the center of Brussels
And before which now the number one at Palazzo Berlaymont herself is personally committed to the farmers, supported by the prime ministers of Belgium and the Netherlands, Alexander De Croo and Mark Rutte, promising measures to be presented to the ministers as early as 26 February to "reduce the administrative burdens".
But the different national requests and distinctions on EU trade policies are already opening the first disagreements on the Paris-Berlin axis.
The crux of contention is that Mercosur to be finalized with the South American countries which the Elysée forcefully rejects fearing strong repercussions from the opening of the European market to overseas products, especially its beef.
For Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the EU is instead "responsible" for completing its mandate.
A vision distant from that of farmers and breeders who, as the Confederation of Portuguese Farmers (CAP) claims, "are all united" in the single market and ask for "the defense of European products".
When the tractors begin to leave the Place du Luxembourg around mid-afternoon, the acrid smell of wood and tires that have now turned to ash remains outside the Eurochamber buildings.
The Beaufort worker has been replaced by the mannequin of a farmer with the noose of European policies around his neck.
And in the background the writing stands out in large letters: "Your vote counts, 6-9 June".
Video France, highways to Paris always blocked by tractors
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