After weeks of mobilizing for protests across Italy, Italian farmers decided to attract attention on Friday by marching in a parade with four tractors along the Colosseum, one of the most famous landmarks in the capital of Rome, ANSA, AFP and Agerpres reported.

The vehicles, one of which was painted in the green, white and red colors of the Italian flag, are part of a collection of more than 300 tractors of farmers who have gathered for several days at the gates of Rome, where they await permission to enter the city center.

In particular, they are demanding a meeting with Prime Minister Georgia Maloney to present their demands, which range from revising European environmental regulations to tax cuts. “EU policy has put us in great difficulty (…) We have been protesting here for several days now because we cannot return home without results,” says a farmer participating in the protest.

Italy, the main beneficiary of Europe’s post-pandemic recovery plan, recently received an increase in aid for its agriculture sector from €5 billion to €8 billion. Georgia Maloney’s government also plans to spend 200 million euros to abolish or reduce agricultural taxes, especially for farmers under 40 years of age.

Protests by European farmers who are dissatisfied with the restrictions imposed on them by the environmental policy included in the EU Green Pact, the free market penetration of Ukrainian products (exemption from the obligation to meet European standards) and the increase in costs, some of these costs are the result, have become more frequent in EU countries new environmental policies or government decisions, such as increasing fuel excise duty or removing subsidies.

In an attempt to quell their anger, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week withdrew a draft law that would have reduced the use of pesticides. In another similar gesture, the European Commission proposed a partial departure from the application of one of the new EU environmental rules, which require part of the land to remain fallow, as well as measures to limit the import of some Ukrainian agricultural products in case of market distortions and promised to “simplify” the Common Agricultural Policy EU.