On February 1, as thousands of tractors blockaded Brussels and farmers lit fires in front of the European Parliament headquarters, one sign drew viewers' attention: It read "Linkse ratten rol uw matten!" in red letters on a black background. This old slogan, which can be translated as "Left-wing rats, get the hell out of here," belongs to the most extremist Flemish militias, taken up by the far-right Vlaams Belang party. In the crowd of participants, there were also many yellow banners featuring a black lion with a black tongue and claws, the symbol of Flemish national movements.

An attempt at co-opting them? Clearly. And quite a successful one, if one were to believe Flemish farmers' accounts. Many of these farmers are very young and hostile to the regional government, which has set its sights on reducing the number of farms and enforcing stricter environmental standards. In the neighboring Netherlands, the agrarian BoerBurgerBeweging party, a proponent of "common sense," Europhobia and anti-immigration rhetoric – which is now bidding for power alongside the populist Geert Wilders – has also built its success on the rejection of a plan to limit nitrogen emissions that had been drawn up by Mark Rutte's government.

In Germany, the AfD has infiltrated the protest movement that arose in the wake of a planned reform of agricultural diesel. Law and Justice (right wing) in Poland, Vox (far right) in Spain, emerging extremist groups in Ireland and the Rassemblement National (RN, far right) in France have also shown their supposedly unwavering support for the movement. In Italy, the situation was paradoxical: Farmers claiming to be apolitical overwhelmed the very sovereignist and powerful Coldiretti union, which was present en masse at the Brussels demonstration. Two political parties have been vying for this organization's favor: Matteo Salvini's Lega (far right) and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia. (FdI, far right)

Denouncing the Common Agricultural Policy

Behind the far right's eagerness to support this revolt, there is of course the attempt – as perfectly illustrated by RN leader Jordan Bardella – to launch the campaign for the June European elections with what it has deemed to be the most promising themes. These have included such classic themes as the denunciation of Brussels bureaucracy – which is responsible for a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that the far right has relegated to its sole shortcomings – and the all-out attack on "elites" who are said to ignore or despise the hard-working people. More novel, however, were the criticisms leveled against the European Green Deal's "punitive ecology."

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