"Climate crisis leaves European farmers vulnerable to far right, say campaigners," 4 November 2024

The painful impacts of the climate crisis and globalisation have left farmers in Europe marginalised and vulnerable to populist politicians, warn anti-racism campaigners and academics...

In recent years, farmers in western Europe have fought with increasing ferocity against policies to protect the planet that they say cost them too much...

In the Netherlands the BBB, a rural conservative party established in 2019 which wants to restrict the power of the EU and rejects some of the environmental measures introduced by the Dutch government, now has two ministers in the national government. The Guardian repeatedly requested an interview with a representative of the party but no one was made available. In Spain, where heatwaves and droughts have turned olive oil into the most stolen supermarket good, the far-right Vox have used the protests to justify their opposition to the European Green Deal – saying it threatens the viability of rural areas that are quickly hollowing out, while in Germany, AfD and groups with even more extreme and anti-democratic views have expressed support for farmers and for the protests. In France, the far-right National Rallyseized on the protests in a campaign against “punitive ecology” that scored them big wins in European elections but fell short of success in the snap national elections that followed...

But scientists have warned that the debate has been mired in misinformation. The EU’s nature restoration law, which barely scraped through the legislative process, was heavily watered down in an attempt to appease farmers. An open letter signed by 6,000 scientists said opponents of the law “not only lack scientific evidence, but even contradict it”...