Farmers protest movement could leave deep scars on Europes political landscape

EU fears rift with agricultural sector could boost electoral support for far-right parties

- Jonathan Eyal

LONDON - The European Union has bowed to protesters from farming communities by easing regulations to reduce carbon emissions and other environmental harms caused by the continent's food producers.

Responding to weeks of often violent demonstrations and transport blockades by rural workers in many EU countries, the bloc has ditched its intention to eliminate almost all greenhouse gas emissions associated with farming such as nitrogen or methane - over the next 15 years.

A widely resented proposal to halve the use of pesticides in agriculture by the end of the decade was also dropped. And officials at the EU's headquarters in Brussels have now been told to stop preaching about Europe's need to reduce meat consumption.

Mr Wopke Hoekstra, the top official responsible for climate change in the European Commission, the EU's executive body, insists that the bloc will continue to adhere to "ambitious climate action".

Still, he accepts "significant worries" about what such measures are doing to farmers' "livelihoods and jobs".

Dr Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission's president, admitted the political nature of the concessions by acknowledging in a speech to the European Parliament on Feb 6 that the continent's farmers "need a worthwhile business case for nature-enhancing measures".

"Perhaps we have not made that case convincingly," Dr von der Leyen told legislators.

Yet, although the concessions may reduce the number of farmer protests, the fear in the continent's capitals is that the rift with Europe's agricultural sector will boost the already high levels of electoral support for far-right populist parties in the run-up to the European parliamentary ballots in June.

Farming represents only a tiny fraction of Europe's economy.

Less than 5 per cent of the EU labour force is directly employed in toiling the land, and agriculture accounts, on average, for only 2.5 per cent of gross economic output.