(CN) — A wave of farmer protests across Europe hit a new peak on Friday as French farmers descended upon Paris, blocked highways across the country with tractor convoys and expressed their anger by dumping and spraying manure at their favorite targets — among them supermarket chains, administrative buildings and fast food restaurants.
The protests in France mirrored others that have broken out in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Romania and Italy, bringing into sharp relief an array of grievances felt by farmers in the European Union.
Europe's farmers have lots of gripes but chief among them are soaring inflation, low prices for their goods, red tape, the costs of the Ukraine war, the EU's ambitious Green Deal rules, cuts to fuel subsidies and a flood of cheap food imports from countries outside the EU with lower standards.
This wave of protest comes at a politically fragile moment ahead of June European elections that could see far-right parties make major gains as discontent deepens in Europe over immigration, inflation and stagnant growth.
Fears are mounting that the farmers' protests could bolster even further far-right forces, adding to a feeling that the mood in Europe is shifting to the right — and that consensus in Brussels around the need to reduce carbon emissions, support Ukraine and embrace free trade deals is weakening.
Last November, months of protests by tractor-driving farmers in the Netherlands preceded a shocking win by Geert Wilders in parliamentary elections. Wilders has long been one of Europe's most visible far-right figures who has spent his political career railing against Muslim immigrants and the EU.
In France, the demonstrations pose a new setback for President Emmanuel Macron and his new prime minister, the 36-year-old Gabriel Attal.
Macron, Europe's foremost liberal leader, appointed Attal in early January with the hope of rebooting his second presidential term.
“Macron is relatively unpopular, so protest is always bad news,” said Laurent Warlouzet, a European history professor at Sorbonne University, in a telephone interview. “And farmer protests have a long history in France and they are especially disruptive, much more than other categories of workers.”
Warlouzet said a surging far right in France will seek to capitalize on the farmers' anger.
“The far right is very strong and tries to benefit from the protests, so that's another worrying element for the French government,” he said.
For the past week, the demonstrations in France, the EU's biggest agricultural producer, gathered momentum and then accelerated after a 36-year-old farmer, Alexandra Sonac, and her 12-year-old daughter were killed when a car crashed into a roadblock they were part of in the south of France. Making the situation even more toxic, the Armenian driver of the vehicle was reportedly living in France illegally.
On Friday, convoys of tractor-driving farmers brought to a standstill long stretches of highways in various parts of France and blocked one of the main motorways linking Paris with the northern city of Lille and Belgium. Farmers warned that the capital could see even more serious disruption unless their demands were met.
“We will go right into Paris to highlight our rage, our grievances,” said farmer Matteo Legrand, as reported by France 24.
Since they started, the protests have been marked by aggressive acts too. Farmers have dumped and sprayed manure at supermarkets, public buildings and at least one McDonald's restaurant; they've unloaded vegetables, car tires and bales of hay on public roadways; torn up the parking lot of a supermarket with a tractor; and doused a politician visiting a roadblock in flour.
“This is a serious time for the government because if it is not up to the task, I don’t know how the rest of the movement will go,” said Arnaud Gaillot, the president of Young Farmers, a national farmers' group, speaking on Sud Radio.
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