European governments may 'regret' support for protesting farmers

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (AFP): European governments should resist calls for greater financial support from protesting farmers across the continent, or they could come to regret it, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said Thursday.

Farmers from Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Greece have staged weeks of disruptive but largely peaceful protests aimed at winning concessions from European leaders ahead of upcoming elections.

"You see the farmers protesting. On the human level I understand they face more hardship and it is not easy to do the job they do," Georgieva said during a press briefing at the International Monetary Fund's offices in Washington.

"But if that sentiment continues and it pushes governments in a corner in which they find themselves unable to do what is necessary for (the) strength of the economies, then there may be days to regret," she added.

Thousands of farmers from across Europe protested in Brussels Thursday during a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on "the future of European agriculture." After the summit, Macron told reporters that France had managed to persuade the EU to "impose stricter rules" for cereal and poultry imports, including from Ukraine.