High tension in Brussels while the meeting of EU agriculture ministers is underway.
The tractors protest in the streets of the city, with fires and explosions of firecrackers, while the police activate the water cannons.
A blockade was also forced, with eggs thrown at the EU Council building located next to the actual institutional headquarters, to which the police responded with tear gas.
Road access to the airport was blocked and then freed, traffic paralysed.
According to the police, around 900 tractors were involved in the demonstration against the EU's agricultural policies.
Prandini
(Coldiretti): 'acts of violence do not belong to us'.
Prime Minister
Meloni
: 'Review the CAP by supporting farmers' incomes, guaranteeing quality food and an adequate standard of living for producers'.
Minister
Lollobrigida
: 'the new CAP was poorly written, a substantial change is needed'.
Deputy Prime Minister
Salvini
: 'It must be rethought before the European elections, it is structured to pay those who do not cultivate and those who do not fish'.
"It should already be possible to reopen negotiations in this mandate" on the Community Agricultural Policy (CAP) "if we want to do something quickly for farmers".
“In the short term we can be more flexible in terms of interpreting the concept of extraordinary circumstances” for farmers “because they are not able to operate normally.”
But before the current deadline of the CAP in 2027 "we can respond to farmers by also reflecting on a reopening of the basic acts of the CAP".
EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said this at a press conference after the Agrifish Council.
In the ongoing protest in Brussels against the EU's agricultural policies, the demonstrators forced one of the police blocks on rue de Pascal, first with some protest participants entering on foot and then directly entering with tractors, to spill into a street protest prohibited: Chaussee d'Etterbeek.
On the street near the EU Council, rue Froissart, the police are trying to contain the demonstrators who are throwing smoke bombs and firecrackers at the police.
Tractor horns can now be heard from the Council.
An attempt to force a blockade in rue de La Loi, a few meters away, was stopped.
For further information Agenzia ANSA Tractors return to Brussels, 'EU action is not enough' - Agricultural World - Ansa.it Lollobrigida, 'Italian proposal to Agrifish to change the Pac' (ANSA)
The tension was palpable from the first moments of the farmers' protest.
On the same rue de La Loi, a few meters from the European Commission and the Europa Building where the Council of Agriculture Ministers is meeting, several fires have been recorded, set by protesters using tires and bins set on fire.
Intense columns of smoke are rising, several explosions of firecrackers are heard, and the police have activated the water cannons, from what appears at the moment only directing them towards the fires.
Some tractors have now headed towards Place de Luxemburg, in front of the European Parliament, which is closed to agricultural vehicles.
On rue d'Etterbeek, the forbidden street on which the demonstrators managed to enter even with tractors, the tension rose further: the police activated water cannons against the demonstrators, throwing tear gas.
The protesters are instead throwing various objects, such as eggs or cans, at the police.
For further information Agenzia ANSA Lollobrigida in Brussels: 'Poorly written CAP, a substantial modification is needed' - News - Ansa.it "The new CAP has been poorly written, the current exemptions are insufficient, we need substantial modifications".
(HANDLE)