The action by the farmers came amid a meeting of the bloc’s agriculture ministers. On the other side of the barriers in Brussels, ministers were keen to show they are listening. “We hear, clearly, their complaints,” said David Clarinval, Belgium’s agriculture minister. Irish agriculture minister Charlie McConalogue said the priority must be to slash administrative red tape. Mr McConalogue underlined that “we do respect the massively important work that farmers carry out every day in terms of producing food”.
