Europe Hundreds of police were deployed, with riot squads on standby. Main roads into Brussels had earlier been blocked by around 300 tractors. A dozen more border crossings were also targeted, the regional traffic information office said. Agriculture ministers have no mandate to raise the budget - it would not be right for me to tell you otherwise Swedish Minister Margareta Winberg Farm waste has also been dumped at French ports including St Malo and Cherbourg. Swedish Agriculture Minister Margareta Winberg met a delegation of the Brussels protesters, but told them emergency spending to prop up beef prices could not be agreed.
Agriculture ministers have no mandate to raise the budget.
But one of the farmers in the delegation, Belgian Etienne Ernoux, said immediate action was imperative. The BSE crisis is of seismic proportions - we need a decision today. French demands France has said it will ask the meeting to agree to a compensation scheme, and hinted it might take unilateral steps if Europe-wide help is not forthcoming. But Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler has made clear no new money is likely to emerge to help the farmers. Beef sales have plunged by around a quarter across the EU since it was revealed last October that meat from infected French herds had reached supermarket shelves.