Farmers’ demonstration in Burgos, Spain, February 6, 2024 (AFP/CESAR MANSO)
Thousands of farmers demonstrated on Tuesday in different regions of Spain, blocking several roads with tractors to protest against European agricultural policy and denounce the precariousness reigning in the sector.
Mobilized by the call of a federation of regional agricultural unions called “Unión de Uniones” (the Union of Unions), but also of groups organized on WhatsApp, the demonstrators are calling for concrete measures to face the difficulties faced by many ‘exploitations.
According to the General Directorate of Traffic, this mobilization resulted Tuesday morning in dozens of snail operations and blockades throughout the country, particularly in the provinces of Zamora (Northwest), Toledo (center), Seville ( South), Murcia (South-East) and Girona (North-East).
There is “no shortage of reasons for anger”, assured the Union of Unions on the social network imported into the European Union.
Farmers parade in tractors through the streets of León, Spain, February 6, 2024 (AFP/CESAR MANSO)
A message relayed by the three main Spanish agricultural unions (Asaja, Coag, UPA), which are not participating in Tuesday’s movement but have planned other demonstrations in the coming days, notably Thursday in Salamanca (center) and Huesca (north) as well as Friday in Bilbao (North).
These three unions were urgently received on Friday by the Minister of Agriculture Luis Planas who pledged to “work” to respond to the crisis in the sector. This meeting, however, was not enough to defuse the crisis, which affects the entire European agricultural world.
Questioned Tuesday morning on public radio RNE, the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera said she understood the “concerns” of farmers, faced with heavy “bureaucratic burdens” and a historic drought which is affecting harvests.
“We must modulate the European sustainability objectives, what we call green Europe, at the pace required by the sector,” said the socialist minister, while denouncing the “manipulation” of which these environmental rules are currently being carried out. object.
Farmers and their tractors in Valencia, Spain, February 6, 2024 (AFP/JOSE JORDAN)
The EU’s “Green Deal” – embodied in a series of environmental laws, most of which have not yet come into force – is strongly criticized in Spain by the far-right Vox party, which accuses it of wanting “destroy” Iberian agriculture.
Spain, often referred to as the “vegetable garden of Europe”, is the leading European exporter of fruits and vegetables. The Spanish agricultural sector is nevertheless in difficulty, notably due to the lack of rain which has been affecting the Iberian Peninsula for three years.
© 2024 AFP
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