As farmers’ protests gain traction with voters ahead of elections, European authorities have rolled back environmental regulations, put restrictions on the entry of tariff-free Ukrainian grains, and shelved proposed legislation restricting the use of pesticides.

In reaction to waves of street action, farmers in Poland and Portugal have secured astounding concessions that have completely changed the European Union’s green politics months before elections to the European Parliament.

According to environmental activists and observers, the policy reversal demonstrates the significant political sway that farmers hold, particularly when it comes to mainstream parties trying to block the far-right and nationalist parties’ efforts to win over rural voters.

Last week, farmers once more blockedaded the streets around the EU buildings in Brussels and sprayed manure to express their disapproval of low wages, inexpensive food imports, and onerous red tape. Meanwhile, the farming ministers of the bloc supported a fresh round of amendments aimed at weakening environmental regulations associated with the distribution of tens of billions of euros in farming subsidies.

When the last European elections were held in 2019, the Greens made strong gains and climate activist Greta Thunberg was voted Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

“The 2024 elections will be the elections of enraged farmers,” declared Franc Bogovic, a Slovenian member of the European Parliament and a farmer himself.

Important pillars of EU policy have been influenced by the rush to appease farmers, putting pressure on the bloc over its Green Deal and free trade agreements.

EU environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius threatened to deliver a “disastrous” blow to the bloc’s reputation last week when member states rejected a historic environmental protection bill, casting doubt on the policy’s likelihood of passing.

Ahead of the election, more green initiatives are in jeopardy. Last week, EU nations requested that Brussels rescind and perhaps postpone a new anti-deforestation strategy, citing concerns that it might hurt regional farmers.

Sensators in France targeted a representation of the EU’s commitment to expand market access and increase competition when they voted against ratification of the EU-Canada free trade agreement in March.

Additionally, in response to protests from farmers, the EU agreed last month to levy taxes if imports surpass a particular level, even though it has prolonged tariff-free access for Ukrainian food producers.

While some farming organisations accept that the way politicians responded to the protests was probably influenced by June’s elections, they disagree that the green regulations should be loosened.

Representative of the farming union La Via Campesina, Leonardo van den Berg, a Dutch farmer, stated, “Our demands (for fair prices) have not actually been met.”

While making up 4.2% of the labour force in the EU, farmers only contribute 1.4% of the GDP of the region. Their objections, however, are felt more strongly in rural areas where there is a strong sense of dissatisfaction with far-off politicians and issues related to cultural identity.

According to a report last month that was commissioned by the EU’s Committee of the Regions, there was a high voter turnout in many rural areas who supported populist parties due to fears about immigration and reduced economic possibilities.

According to a January Elabe survey, 87% of French people were in favour of the farmers’ cause. A survey conducted by the Institute of Market and Social Research in Poland found that almost eight out of ten respondents supported the demands made by the farmers.

The demonstrations by the farmers are interpreted by the extreme right in France and other countries as an indication of a gulf between the impoverished rural people and the metropolitan elite. According to Teneo analyst Antonio Barroso, although farmers are a small group, the extreme right believes that by extension they can win over a much larger rural electorate.

Simone Tagliapietra, senior fellow at think-tank Bruegel, observed that far-right parties are competing to be the bearers of farmers’ unhappiness, using them to exemplify the alleged failure of what they deem elitist green policies.

“This is pushing mainstream political parties to recalibrate their own agendas,” Tagliapietra stated.

The National Rally (Rassemblement National), led by Marine Le Pen, is seeing an increase in support from the farming community in France. She has demanded that EU free trade agreements be stopped.

When asked why farmers were so successful in influencing policy, last week’s agriculture ministers in Brussels referred to farmers as the backbone of the rural economy.

“Everybody needs to eat everyday,” Finland’s minister Sari Essayah said. “(Farming) is one of those basic sectors we should support.”

According to Irish Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, Russia’s intervention in Ukraine has disrupted food supply lines, and Europe needs to learn from this.

“We cannot take food security for granted,” he stated.

Environmental activists caution against the speed at which laws pertaining to the environment are being relaxed for allegedly political reasons.

Greenpeace argued that without adequate consultation, changes to undermine environmental standards related to the distribution of subsidies under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) had been made quickly.

“What they are now presenting as a set of simplification adjustments is literally a CAP reform worked out in a week,” the group’s EU agriculture policy director, Marco Contiero, said, playing up the speed of what were nonetheless swift recommendations.

“This is a political, an electoral card being played,” he said.

The proposed changes to the CAP, according to a spokesman for the Commission, were “carefully calibrated, and targeted to maintain a high level of environment and climate ambition”.

Before recommending the steps to cut bureaucracy for farmers, the Commission conferred with four EU-level farming associations and EU member states, according to the spokeswoman.

(Adapted from USNews.com)