In Brussels, convoys with hundreds of angry farmers driving heavy-duty tractors arrived at European Union headquarters, bent on getting their complaints about excessive costs, rules and bureaucracy, heard and fixed by EU leaders at a summit&nbsp;today.&nbsp;The leaders of the 27 European Union countries sealed a deal in a summit today to provide Ukraine with a new 50-billion-euro support package for its war-ravaged economy despite weeks of threats from Hungary to veto the move. European Council President Charles Michel announced that agreement was reached in the summit. Hungary lifted its veto.<br />''<br />''The farmers mounted their vehicles and entered&nbsp;Brussels&nbsp;with the rumble of engines, firecrackers and blaring horns piercing the early morning slumber in a culmination of weeks of protests around the bloc.&nbsp;Farmers pelted police with firecrackers, eggs, beer bottles and burning bales of hay, and security forces replied with water cannons to douse fires and keep farmers from felling a tree on the steps of the European Parliament.<br />''<br />''Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo&nbsp;said, they&nbsp;also need to make sure that farmers get the right price for the high quality products that they provide.<br />''Most of the protesters have been young farmers supporting families, who feel ever-more squeezed by higher energy prices, cheaper foreign competition that does not have to abide by strict EU rules, inflation, and climate change that either withered, flooded or burned crops.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">Similar protests have been held across the EU for most of the week. Farmers blocked more traffic arteries across Belgium, France and Italy&nbsp;yesterday&nbsp;as they sought to disrupt trade at major ports and other economic lifelines.</span><br />
News On AIR | February 1, 2024 8:19 PM
Angry farmers take protest to key E.U. summit in tractors