News / Alarm as road blocks by truckers and farmers spread across Europe

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The World Road Transport Organisation (IRU) has urged EU member states to address the “threat to free movement” from protests by farmers and truckers sweeping across the continent.

In the past 24 hours, roadblocks and rolling blockades have spread across France, in response to farmers’ anger at efforts by supermarkets to force down prices, and there is a combined protest by German farmers and truckers against environmental legislation.

IRU EU advocacy director Raluca Marian said: “The situation along Europe’s vital trade corridors is deeply concerning.

“Road blocks and disruptions risk causing knock-on delays in the delivery of goods, affecting supply chains for manufacturing and threatening the availability of food, medicine and other essentials.”

Her comments came in the wake of an IRU letter to EC commissioner for the internal market Thierry Breton, urging EU intervention to keep “vital trade corridors open”.

The protests and road blockages have also highlighted worries over driver safety – a mother and her child who crashed into a roadblock in France were both killed.

The letter noted: “The situation on the ground is deeply worrying, with drivers reporting being blocked for long periods without access to adequate sanitary facilities.

“Given the significant lack of safe and secure truck parking areas in Europe, drivers simply do not know where to go. In addition, given the volatile situation, their security is at risk while trying to simply do their job and keep the EU economy running.”

While protests in France and Germany have been rumbling on since December, there are new pockets of action emerging across the EU, where there will be elections in June.

Last week saw Romanian farmers and hauliers take to the highways with tractors and trucks that have been clogging up main roads ever since and, like their counterparts in north Europe, they too want urgent reforms to taxes and improved subsidies.