LIVE FARMER PROTEST. Consultation between government and farmers abandoned – Zelzate bridge will be blocked for 24 hours, “possibly longer” | Peasant protest

The consultation between the Flemish government and agricultural organizations has been postponed until 2:30 p.m. The government had been in session since 9 o’clock this morning. A text is now ready to be presented to farmers, but there remains a point of contention: the government has not agreed on the purchase of agricultural land by Natuurpunt.

The blocking of the Zelzate Bridge would last at least 24 hours, but the exact duration of the action “depends on the negotiations”, according to local reports. About ten tractors are stationary on the drawbridge, meaning that the bridge can no longer be raised and seagoing vessels cannot enter or leave the port. “We want to stop freight traffic towards the port of Ghent,” farmers Jonas Van Zele and Michiel Patyn explain on site. “We notice that we can achieve the greatest impact this way.” The intention is “to put a little pressure on the negotiations this afternoon”.

The Flemish government will soon meet with farmers, but the farmers on the Zelzate Bridge do not believe that an agreement is within reach. “As the nitrogen dossier is now on the table, indefinite-term permits should be renewed in 2030. That means changing the rules of the game while the game is being played. This is how agriculture is being let down,” it said.

The farmers explicitly link the duration of their protest to the results of the consultation this afternoon. “It depends on the negotiations. Are they going well? Then it could be shorter. But we have also heard that – if they go wrong – it could take longer.”

The Flemish government has been meeting since just after 9 am to prepare the consultation with the agricultural organizations. At 2 p.m. the Jambon government will meet again with agricultural organizations Boerenbond, Algemeen Boerensyndicaat (ABS) and Groene Kring.

It remains to be seen whether that third meeting will result in an agreement and what exactly will be agreed, for example on the protection of agricultural land, on the rules for fertilization and on nitrogen. The atmosphere has been somewhat tense in recent days, including after a negotiating memorandum was leaked, but according to various sources the atmosphere around the government table is said to be “constructive”.

According to Voka, the farmers’ protest in the port of Ghent is causing several millions in economic damage and the protest is weighing on the port’s international reputation. “The port area is of crucial economic and therefore social importance,” it says. “If activists act irresponsibly, the time for law enforcement has arrived.”

The hundreds of port companies provide more than 60,000 jobs in Ghent. The total added value amounts to more than 7 billion euros. “Without a port, prosperity in our region would look very different,” said Voka. A few strategically placed blockades cause enormous damage to the port area. “But ports are too important to be treated irresponsibly,” says Jan Geers, director of advocacy for Voka East Flanders and Vegho, the Association for Ghent Port-related Enterprises.

The activists at the turbo roundabout indicate that they will remain at their post until 8 p.m. tonight. “We are here to protest against the nitrogen policy and the increasingly strict laws. These rules are of no use to us, in fact they are ‘pushing our pockets’,” he said. “We have to incur more and more unnecessary costs, while things could also be done differently. We continue to fight to put pressure on politicians.”

The blockade on the turbo roundabout is not a total blockade like the farmers’ protests two weeks ago. Passenger vehicles would be able to pass at a slow pace and occasionally a truck would also be allowed to pass. The same applies to the cosmos roundabout, a roundabout on Kennedylaan near steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal.

A total of about fifty tractors block traffic at those two roundabouts. This means that the farmers’ protest around 9 am does not seem to have the same intensity as the farmers’ protest in the port of Antwerp or the one in Ghent two weeks ago. But unlike the previous action in the port of Ghent, this time there will be disruption to shipping.

No shipping traffic is possible in the port of Ghent this morning due to the blockade of the Zelzate Bridge. “Shipping in the Ghent part of the port is at a standstill,” North Sea Port spokesperson Johan Bresseleers confirms.. About ten seagoing vessels pass there every day to unload and load goods. They therefore cannot moor at the companies or cannot leave for the Western Scheldt. Inland shipping is still possible.

The first farmers have appeared on the R4 in Zelzate, close to the Arcelor Mittal head office in Ghent. They have been blocking the Zelzate bridge over the Ghent-Terneuzen canal since ten to eight. About ten tractors have driven onto the bridge, preventing it from being collected. Just after 8 o’clock it appears that the farmers do not allow freight traffic to cross the bridge. But passenger transport is still possible.

A number of farmers are also blocking the turbo roundabout Euro silo. The turbo roundabout is one of the largest roundabouts in Flanders. It is an important axis for freight traffic, but also for Ghent workers who work in the port companies.

This morning there may be further actions in the port of Ghent, warns acting mayor of Ghent Filip Watteeuw (Green). “We have received information that farmers would focus on the port of Ghent, more specifically on the Turbo roundabout“, it sounds.

The first activists would descend on the city around 7 am Turbo roundabout to Euro-Silo. But there are also new actions expected to the Cosmos roundabout at steel company ArcelorMittal and to the Zelzate bridge.

“To the Zelzate bridge it would be about filter blockages so that exchange between both canal banks remains possible, albeit possibly greatly delayed and resulting in traffic jams,” says Mayor Brent Meuleman (Vooruit). “I have demanded that there will be smooth passage at all times for emergency and security services, because in the event of a occupied Cosmos roundabout and a blocked bridge, must be done detour everything via Sas-van-Gent.”

If you need to be near the port of Ghent today by car, it is best to consult the website Flemish traffic centre.

Nature point and Bond Better Environment (BBL) the agricultural organizations want to “reach out”. “We hope that this way deadlock that prevails within the Flemish government breaking through“, said a joint press release.

Yesterday Natuurpunt and BBL announced the leaked negotiating note from the Jambon government still rejected. According to them, the planned agreements between the government and agricultural organizations are heading towards a “legal quagmire”. According to the organizations, the content of the present negotiating memorandum is at odds with the agreements in the coalition agreement and with Flemish nature and environmental policy. The memorandum threatens to create additional problems for farmers and, according to the organizations, will culminate in legal convictions.

The nature and environmental organizations also had one on Wednesday conversation with Minister of Agriculture Jo Brouns (CD&V). That conversation took a little longer than expected. Minister Brouns himself was told afterwards that the consultation “constructive” has expired. Another government source says that the leaking of the memorandum has given a “blow to confidence”.

The nature and environmental organizations also want to go against the false contradiction that seems to have arisen between nature and agriculture. In eeIn a joint press release, sent after the consultation with Minister Brouns, Natuurpunt and BBL reached out to agricultural organizations and they hammer on the need for a solution “that is good for both agriculture and nature.”

“Both sides need to do that recognize each other’s interests: a living income for farmers, security of existence for the sector, a sustainable agricultural model that respects the carrying capacity of our ecosystem and nature that flourishes,” said a joint press release.

Environmental organizations are not to mention the concessions that the Flemish government wants to make to the farmers, according to them. “The government will deceive the farmers again making promises she can’t keep”, it sounds. What exactly is the problem? Have today’s negotiations failed before they have even begun? In any case, the tension is bearable.