2025 Belgian Farmers' Riots

European Union Common Agricultural Policy

The European Union Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the oldest and most comprehensive common policies established to regulate the agricultural sector of the European Union, secure farmers' income and ensure the sustainability of food supply. In Europe, agriculture is considered not only an economic activity but also a fundamental element of social welfare and food security.

Entered into force in 1962, the CAP initially aimed to prevent food shortages and increase agricultural production in post-war Europe. Over time, it has evolved from a purely production-focused policy into a multidimensional structure that also encompasses areas such as environmental sustainability, rural development and combating climate change. The CAP's primary objective is to ensure income stability for European farmers and protect the agricultural sector against market fluctuations. Direct income support is provided to farmers, and intervention mechanisms are applied to counter potential price crises in agricultural markets. The policy also aims to guarantee the continuous supply of safe, sufficient, and high-quality food for European Union citizens.

The CAP is built on two main pillars. The first pillar covers direct payments and market regulation tools and focuses on supporting farmers' incomes. The second pillar encompasses rural development policies; increasing employment in rural areas, diversifying agricultural activities and reducing regional inequalities are supported within this scope.

In recent years, the CAP has been more strongly integrated with environmental and climate policies. Farmers are encouraged to adopt environmentally friendly production methods through eco-schemes and green farming practices. The Common Agricultural Policy, which constitutes a significant portion of the EU budget, is also at the centre of political and social debates. In particular, issues such as increased environmental obligations, the competitiveness of small farmers and income inequality have led to farmer protests in member states. In this respect, the CAP remains a critical policy area not only for the economic integration of the European Union but also for social balance, environmental sustainability and the future of rural communities.

Reasons for Farmer Protests

The farmer uprisings that emerged in Belgium in 2025 were a significant social turning point that revealed the structural limitations and crises of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy. These protests revealed not only the economic hardships of Belgian farmers, but also the impact on rural communities of the EU's attempts to reorganise agriculture around the axes of the environment, the market and global competition.

While European agriculture has long been reshaped in line with sustainability, green transition and free trade objectives, the perception that the cost of this transformation has largely been borne by farmers has been the fundamental cause and driving force behind the 2025 protests.

Meanwhile, it is important to note that although the Common Agricultural Policy has been one of the most central policy areas of European integration since its inception, its nature has changed significantly in recent years. The CAP, which has evolved from a model that encouraged production and directly protected farmers to a structure based on environmental conditions and market discipline, is creating serious adaptation problems, especially for small and medium-sized farmers. In this context, farmers in Belgium, who have been particularly vocal, have stated that despite rising fertiliser and energy costs throughout 2025, they are struggling to increase their production due to environmental restrictions and that the subsidies they receive fall far short of compensating for these losses. This reality on the ground demonstrates that the EU's agricultural policy is struggling to strike a balance between economic sustainability and environmental goals.

Another reason for the intensification of protests in Belgium specifically is that the country is at the centre of the EU's decision-making mechanisms and hosts the EU. The actions in Brussels have revealed that farmers are targeting EU institutions directly rather than national governments. This has reinforced the perception that agricultural policies are increasingly detached from the nation-state level and that farmers' problems are shaped by a ‘distant and technocratic’ decision-making process. Farmers argue that the regulations under the CAP are out of step with the realities on the ground and that decisions made at the desk have a direct negative impact on rural life.

Another aspect of the 2025 farmer revolts directly linked to EU agricultural policies is the European Union's free trade strategy. This strategy has been perceived by Belgian farmers as a development that largely undermines the protective nature of the CAP. Farmers argue that while they are obliged to comply with strict environmental, animal welfare and health standards within the EU, agricultural products produced outside these standards and outside the EU geography can easily enter the European market, creating a ‘double standard’ for them. This situation clearly highlights the inconsistency between the EU's internal agricultural policy regulations and its external trade policies.

The form and severity of the protests also reflect the depth of the crisis of confidence in EU agricultural policies. Blocking roads with tractors, blocking logistics centres and actions concentrated around EU institutions show that farmers believe they can no longer communicate their demands through traditional lobbying channels. These actions have demonstrated that the CAP has moved beyond being a technical policy to becoming central to the debate on social legitimacy. Farmers have argued that EU agricultural policies view them solely as ‘implementers of environmental policies’ while neglecting economic and social dimensions. The farmer uprisings in Belgium also show that the political meaning of agriculture within the EU is being redefined.

Agriculture is no longer just a sector related to food production; it has become part of broader debates on the preservation of rural life, national sovereignty, economic justice and the limits of European integration. The 2025 protests can be read as a social response that questions the European countryside's allegiance to the EU project, going beyond the technical objectives of the CAP. The discourse of ‘green transition’ has often become synonymous with ‘loss of income’ and ‘uncertainty’ for farmers.

As a result, the 2025 farmer uprisings in Belgium have clearly demonstrated the need for reform of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy. These riots show that unless the EU produces a more equitable and balanced policy between environmental goals, free trade and agricultural income security, the distance between the rural areas and the Brussels-centred decision-making mechanisms will only increase. The Belgian example can be seen as a strong indicator that the EU's agricultural policy is evolving into a crisis of legitimacy that is not only economic but also political and social.