Tractors Block Access to Key North Sea Port as Farmers’ Protests Erupt in Belgium

Farmers in Belgium have blocked access to the country’s second-largest seaport to protest against steadily mounting fuel prices and unpopular EU policies that they say are destroying their businesses. The protest in Belgium follows similar actions by farmers in other European Union member states, including France, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands. “Seeing it start up in other countries, we thought that if we all get together we will be stronger in the eyes of the EU,” one Belgian protester told Reuters. Like their counterparts in other West European countries, Belgian farmers decry skyrocketing fuel costs and what they regard as excessive EU bureaucracy....