Various EU leaders are gathering in Brussels on Thursday for a Special European Summit, but this time they will be welcomed by protesting farmers in tractors. Where possible, police have advised people to avoid the city centre.
As a follow-up to December's European Council meeting, EU leaders will again meet in Brussels, this time to discuss the mid-term revision of the EU’s budget for 2021-2027. The summit will likely be dominated by discussions on support for Ukraine in light of Hungary's opposition to further aid for Kyiv.
Even under less tumultuous circumstances, the summits always bring traffic disruption as security measures are triggered in the European Quarter, specifically around the Council of the European Union buildings in Rue de la Loi.
"The perimeter in the Schuman neighbourhood will be closed from 08:00 and the Reyer Tunnel towards the city centre will be closed to traffic from 07:00," the police stated. For local residents to enter the zone, an access badge will be needed and they have to show their identity card.
Certain sections of the neighbouring streets (rue Breydel, rue Archimède, avenue de Cortenbergh, avenue de la Joyeuse Entrée and avenue d’Auderghem) will be closed to local traffic and parking will be prohibited.
"Traffic disruption is expected. We advise you to travel by public transport or by bicycle," the police stated. Several buses that normally pass through this neighbourhood (lines 12, 21, 56, 59, 60, 79 and 80) will not stop at Schuman and be diverted locally.
Double disruption
The impact of the EU summit on the traffic situation in and around Brussels is expected to be more severe than usual on Thursday as it is also the focus of protests by farmers, which started at the end of last week in Belgium and have been blocking key roads and causing traffic jams around the country. Their actions will reach a high point on Thursday.
Since Monday, dozens of tractors have been blocking Place De Meeûs, near Place de Luxembourg in Brussels' Leopold district, where they will be joined by others, including from France and Luxembourg, and where they plan to stay until the demonstration. Most participants are expected to travel to Place Luxembourg on Thursday morning via various approach roads.
Tractors pictured at the Place De Meeûs in Brussels city centre, as part of the farmers' protest. Credit: Belga/Hatim Kaghat
This will result in severe traffic traffic disruption on the entire territory of the Capital Region, the National Crisis Centre warned. Aside from the Reyer Tunnel from the E40 motorway to the centre being closed due to the EU summit, the Cinquantenaire tunnel towards Arts-Loi will also be closed off.
It is also possible that the small Brussels ring road (R20) and the Arts-Loi intersection will be inaccessible to car traffic. The confluence of these two disruptions has spurred the National Crisis Centre to call on people to avoid driving to and in Brussels as much as possible, as the problems may persist into the late afternoon.
The farmers' unions have called on Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo to put their concerns on the agenda of the European summit regarding how certain EU policies, such as the Nature Restoration Act, should take certain situations into account (such as densely populated areas).
