Belgian farmers to block Zeebrugge port as French protests spill over

Belgian farmers angry about rising costs, EU environmental policies and cheap food imports plan to block access roads to the Zeebrugge container port on Tuesday, the port said, confirming a report from financial daily De Tijd. The protesters plan to bar access to the North Sea port, the country's second-largest, for at least 36 hours from early afternoon, the organisers, members of the Algemeen Boerensyndicaat (ABS, General Farmers Syndicate) union, said.

Belgian farmers angry about rising costs, EU environmental policies and cheap food imports plan to block access roads to the Zeebrugge container port on Tuesday, the port said, confirming a report from financial daily De Tijd.

The protesters plan to bar access to the North Sea port, the country's second-largest, for at least 36 hours from early afternoon, the organisers, members of the Algemeen Boerensyndicaat (ABS, General Farmers Syndicate) union, said. ABS has called on its members to join the protest.

Organisers said the port was targeted because they feel it receives economic support at the expense of farmers. "Police services have received information about an action at the Zeebrugge port," a port authority spokesman said. He said it was not clear what the action would entail and therefore not clear what the consequences would be.

He also said the port was indirectly in touch with the organisers through the police. The Belgian protest movement has been boosted by similar action in France, where farmers have set up dozens of roadblocks and disrupted traffic around Paris, putting the government under pressure.

Belgian farmers also disrupted traffic during the morning rush hour on Tuesday. One of the blockades was close to the Dutch border on the E19 highway, media said. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo is set to meet with farmers' associations on Tuesday.

"It is important that they are listened to," De Croo told reporters, referring to the challenges farmers face. He said Belgium, which currently holds the six-month presidency of the Council of the EU, will discuss a number of European agricultural rules with the European Commission.

A group of farmers blocking a square in central Brussels with tractors said they would stay put until at least Thursday, when EU government leaders convene in the city. "We are asking them to review their laws," said Nicolas Fryers, a farmer at the protest. "They talk about being greener but if that happens then there will be land which isn't worked any more and it's difficult enough as it is."

The European Commission is set to propose an exemption on Thursday on rules requiring farmers to leave part of their land fallow if they apply for EU subsidies, an EU spokesman said on Tuesday. The rules on fallow land were part of the grievances that led to protests in France and elsewhere in recent weeks.

On Monday, farmers blocked highways in southern Belgium and parked tractors near the EU Parliament in Brussels.