Hundreds of tractors will gather in Luxembourg Square in the Belgian capital on Thursday.
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00:00 French farming unions continue to protest the European Union's free trade agreements,
00:06 which they say open the door to unfair overseas competition. French farmers fear Chilean apples,
00:12 Brazilian grains and Canadian beef will flood the European markets and undermine their livelihoods.
00:18 French police made scores of arrests on Wednesday in Paris, Lyon and more.
00:24 Farmers are protesting a range of issues including rising costs to meeting carbon cutting targets,
00:29 fuel prices, inflation, bureaucracy and grain imports from Ukraine.
00:33 Some of the European exports were going through the Red Sea. That also has affected them
00:38 proportionally more than say the US. When you lose things like fuel subsidies or you have
00:42 cuts in fuel subsidies, those are just additional costs that you have to bear. And I think those are
00:48 the sorts of things that do precipitate concerns by farmers and other things because fuel is a big
00:55 component of overall production costs and having to absorb more in terms of those costs.
01:03 Around 50 tractors spent the night near the European Parliament in Brussels in time for
01:10 European Union leaders to gather for an EU summit on Thursday. They are expected to spend the day
01:15 protesting. Spanish farmers are also taking to the streets in protest against strict European
01:24 regulations and lack of government support as unrest continues to spread across Europe.
01:29 The largest farmers groups, Asaja, COAG and EUPA are all heading the protests.
01:52 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has opened the strategic dialogue
01:57 on agriculture following the protests.
02:00 (whooshing)
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