Hundreds of farmers gather in front of the Brussels European Council building and protest loudly: “The milk market is burning, the policy’s fall asleep”, “farmers need a fair price, 40 cents per litre of milk”, that’s what they’re calling. The Farmers fear for their existence. The Russian import ban may be an additional source of concern. The Chinese market has collapsed, all together a desolate situation. But cows are permanent suppliers, they can not be turned off suddenly, or put on part-time job. 

“We must find a way to cushion the fluctuations that can not cope with the farmers,” said Federal Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt (CSU), towards the ARD television station, just reported before the crisis meeting in Brussels. The risk of the market is currently contributing only by the dairy farmers. The EU must help them. Experience has shown that the minister talks a lot, but he solves very little, say the farmers.

Meanwhile, the mood in Brussels has heated downright. Straw and wooden pallets were set on fire. “In Belgium, the Demonstration rules are legally regulated more generously than ours. Therefore the Belgians like to set stuff on fire, as a particularly heated expression of their protest.” Says a farmer from the BDM (League of German dairy farmers), in the middle of the action at 15:35 pm today. In the afternoon, the EU Agriculture Ministers plan to come to together for a special meeting. The farmers want a long term solution respectable. They want to be taken seriously at last.