Polish politicians have called on the EU Commissioner for Agriculture to quit as farmers blocked roads across his home country Poland and at border crossings with Ukraine, kicking off a month-long general strike to protest against EU policies.
Farmers in France, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Spain, Germany and Italy have also been protesting against constraints placed on them by EU measures to tackle climate change, as well as rising costs and what they say is unfair competition from abroad.
Polish farmers are angry about the impact of cheap food imports from neighbouring Ukraine and what they say is the "passivity" of their government. EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski came under fire from all sides.
"There is a man in Europe who united all European and Polish farmers against the reform he proposed. This is Janusz Wojciechowski. Resign!" said Deputy Prime Minister Wladysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.
Mr Wojciechowski was also criticised by the leader of the former ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party that proposed him for the position. Jarosław Kaczynski said he would call the commissioner to ask him to quit.
About 100 farmers and 50 cars blocked the approach to Medyka border crossing, blocking traffic for all vehicles, Ukrainian border service spokesman Andriy Demchenko said on television.
The Ukrainian border service also said that traffic flow had been affected at two other crossings.
Polish media said there were over 250 blockades across the country. Images showed convoys of tractors clogging roads and banners such as "Without us, you will be hungry, naked and sober".
Poland's agriculture minister said he understood the challenges farmers were facing but he hoped the protests could be organised in a way to be "the least burdensome for citizens".
"Farmers have legitimate concerns, expectations and demands to limit the excessive inflow of goods from Ukraine, as well as from other non-European markets to the EU, especially to Poland," Czeslaw Siekierski told public radio today.
In Spain, farmers blocked streets across the country in a fourth day of protests and announced plans to gather in Madrid as they railed against the EU's environmental rules and what they see as excessive taxes and red tape.
The three main farmers' associations - COAG, Asaja and UPA -kicked off their demonstrations yesterday, though many had started earlier in the week.
Today, traffic on the A-2 highway to Madrid near the central town of Torija snarled behind a convoy of tractors bearing Spanish flags and blaring their horns, while farmers wearing yellow vests waved baguettes from an overpass at the vehicles below.
"They aren't letting us work, nor sow what we need to sow: wheat and barley," said cereal farmer Javier Corral, 63, who described bureaucracy as the main problem they faced.
A viral video on social media appeared to show a group of protesters near the southern city of Jerez grabbing from a truck boxes of cherry tomatoes they said were of Moroccan origin and dumping their contents.
According to newspaper El Mundo, protesters clashed with police near the southwestern city of Merida, lobbing rocks at officers, who deployed tear gas to disperse them.
Plataforma 6, a newly created farmers' group, said it would gather outside all regional government buildings in Spain. The group is planning protests in the capital tomorrow, it said on social media.
Meanwhile, after weeks of small demonstrations across the country, Italian farmers brought their protest into Rome this morning, driving a four-tractor convoy past the Colosseum.
The tractors, one of them green, one white and one red, representing the colours of Italy's national flag, were part of a group of more than 300 that have been parked on the northern outskirts of the capital for several days, awaiting permission to enter the city.
The farmers want a formal meeting with the government of far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to discuss their complaints, which range from tax cuts to a review of the EU environmental regulations that they say are damaging their livelihoods.
"EU policies are putting us in serious difficulty," Elia Fornai, a 26-year-old farmer from Tuscany, told AFP at the camp earlier this week.
"We have no taste for protesting. We want to go home as soon as possible -- but with new programmes for a better future for agriculture."
Farmers across the EU claim the rules to protect the environment make them less competitive compared to other regions.
Earlier this month, dozens of demonstrations were staged by the Irish Farmers Association around the country in solidarity with EU farmers.
