DISINFO: European farmers protest massively against opening markets to candidate countries
SUMMARY
European farmers protest en masse against the opening up of markets to candidate countries: For Moldovan farmers, this means that they will not be able to sell their crops to the EU in the future. In recent months, farmers from all over Europe have taken to the streets to protest against trade in agricultural products with countries outside the European Union, such as Ukraine and Moldova. Governments are forced to make concessions to protect their markets, and it is clear that future EU members will not be able to enjoy the subsidies that they had before.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative, intentionally spread ahead of an upcoming referendum on EU integration, to dissuade Moldovan farmers from supporting membership.
The claim is false. There have been no massive farmers' protests in Europe in recent months. The most recent too place protests at the beginning of the year, in January 2024. The claims did not concern the candidate countries, but different economic aspects: taxes for agricultural diesel, subsidies, the transition to ecological agriculture, compensation for losses due to market competition, etc. For example, in Germany, grievances focused on the December 2023 decision of the Government to cancel subsidies for agricultural diesel. In France, demands focused on urgent structural changes to prevent further reduction of "food sovereignty indicators" and the review the "philosophy" underlying the European Commission's Green Deal Plan. In the Netherlands, discontent has been growing since 2022, when the new government announced a plan to cut nitrogen emissions by 50% by 2030, which will also affect farmers. A similar plan to reduce nitrogen emissions also brought farmers in the Flanders region of Belgium to the streets in the spring of 2023.
See other cases targeting the EU accession referendum: Moldova's EU accession implies an automatic loss of its neutral status, Brussels does not believe Chisinau can fulfill the EU accession requirements, Moldova leadership uses referendum to remove neutrality from the Constitution.