Blockades Go On: Farmers Turn Down Meeting with Government, Continue to Protest EU Green Agenda

Tractors around at a distribution center of Albert Heijn in Utrecht. The major supermarket
Oscar Brak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Farmers protesting the EU’s green agenda in the Netherlands have turned down a meeting with their country’s government over poor terms.

Dutch farmers have turned down an offer to meet a minister from their country’s Europhile government due to the terms of such a meeting not being good enough.

The LTO farming association is arguing that authorities have already decided that they will not reconsider the enforcement of Europe’s green agenda, which could see as many as 30 per cent of livestock farms in the country shut down.

As a result, De Telegraaf reports that the organisation does not see much point in turning up at any such meeting unless authorities are willing to discuss the methods and goals adopted by the government, which have been employed with the aim of carrying out the will of those in Brussels.

“The whole remains a dictate and we fear short-term [demolition] in the countryside with such large-scale interventions,” the organisation is reported by the publication as saying.

“The conversation should be about the content: objective [and] timeline,” the organisation meanwhile explained, outlining the necessary preconditions for talks to occur.

With these preconditions as of now remaining unmet, protests against the Dutch government’s move to cut nitrogen emissions by up to 95 per cent in some areas look set to continue, with the blockade of food distribution centres across the country so far costing the state tens of millions of euro.

As of now, however, the government does not appear to be showing any signs of backing down, remaining adamant that the gutting of the country’s own agriculture industry is an “unavoidable transition” that is part and parcel of the EU’s environmental reforms.

Farmers do not seem to be as willing to accept the will of Brussels as gospel however, forcing some local politicians in the country to deploy emergency measures in a desperate attempt to curtail disruption.

There have also been reports of various clashes with law enforcement, with police in the country coming under serious criticism after officers shot at one 16-year-old demonstrating against the EU’s green measure.

According to the mother of the boy, one of the bullets discharged by officers missed the boy’s head by mere fractions of an inch, with the child’s solicitor meanwhile saying that he wouldn’t be surprised if the family files an attempted murder complaint against the police involved.

“It is a personal decision of the family, but I could imagine that they file a report,” lawyer Robert Snorn told De Telegraaf.

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