PAC, 'chemtrail', Mercosur, phytosanitary, urbanite…: glossary so as not to get lost in the agricultural protests

The wave of agrarian protests that have shaken Europe in recent weeks has put on the table a series of concepts that reflect the feelings of the primary sector. The protesters are calling for “the CAP to be made more flexible”, to strengthen the Food Chain Law to avoid “selling at a loss”, to leave the European Green Deal behind or to end the agreement with Mercosur. This is a small glossary of some of the most repeated notions during the marches that have already traveled through part of the continent and that, for the moment, have obtained some concessions from the EU.

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

It is a set of economic aid that aims to encourage the productivity of European farmers. The allocated funds are decreasing (from 400,000 million in the previous period compared to 387,000 million in the current one), something that has aroused rejection from the sector. Rural workers can access these subsidies as long as they meet a series of requirements regarding the control of agricultural activities (for example, through a digital notebook) or apply environmentally friendly techniques. Part of the rural world considers all demands as an excessive “bureaucratic burden” that slows down, hinders or reduces their productivity.

Food Chain Law

From the moment the food is harvested until it reaches its points of sale, there are a series of intermediaries that have a direct impact on the prices that the consumer finds. The Food Chain Law, approved in 2021, aims to create a balance in the entire process so that no link—especially farmers—is harmed. The law stipulates that each merchant in this chain pays a price greater than or equal to the seller's production cost. That is, do not trade “at a loss”.

However, the rural world denounces that since its creation, the law has not been effective and that they often obtain very low profits from the harvests or that they have even had to sell below production costs. To address this situation, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, committed this Wednesday to strengthening these controls in response to the discontent of the countryside.

European Green Deal

Approved in 2019, the European Green Deal refers to the commitment made by the EU to achieve a series of environmental objectives before 2050 in its fight against climate change. Its implementation proposes leaving behind a growth model considered unsustainable, and is structured based on the reduction of polluting emissions in favor of renewable energies, the commitment to the electric car, recycling, the fight against deforestation or the reduction of use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

However, part of the European green agenda has been interpreted as an imposition that threatens agricultural productivity and profitability, giving rise to farmers' protests. The movement has already pushed the EU to make concessions that lower the ambition of its environmental policies for fear of a populist wave that could revolutionize the community context on the eve of the European elections in June.

Professional agricultural organizations (OPA)

The main Spanish professional agricultural groups are four: the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers (ASAJA), the Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers (UPA), Coordinator of Organizations of Farmers and Ranchers (COAG) and the Union of Unions (Udu), although the latter is not recognized by the Government. These groups began their calendar of demonstrations in the middle of the week and plan to extend it until the end of the month.

Digital Notebook

One of the latest CAP reforms establishes that each farmer must record their activities in the field on a platform known as Digital Notebook, with the aim of the farmer “transmitting the information by telematic methods.” Farmers report that this work hinders their daily activities in the field. The lack of Internet connection in some areas or the difficulty in using digital tools due to their age are other obstacles that hinder their use.

tractor unit

The word “tractorada” refers to a demand from the agricultural world, through which different rural representatives march or cut roads with their tractors to spread their claims publicly. On this occasion, the tractor units began in France in mid-January and little by little they spread to other European countries such as Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

In Spain, where demonstrations in the countryside have been a constant in the last half century, protests have been growing in recent days to the point of causing blockages on the main roads of most of the autonomous communities. Far from being close to finishing, some of the platforms have threatened to take over Madrid and gather in front of the PSOE headquarters this Saturday, on Madrid's Ferraz street.

'Chemtrails'

The term chemtrails It could be translated as “chemtrails,” and refers to a type of elongated cloud that can sometimes be observed in the sky. The frequent droughts gave rise to a conspiracy theory that points to the existence of a secret program dedicated to fumigating the population from airplanes to sterilize citizens, spread diseases or modify the climate. There is no scientific evidence for this. On the contrary, these types of lines are harmless elongated cirrus-type clouds or condensation trails that sometimes appear caused by the passage of an airplane.

Mercosur

Spanish farmers argue that the possible agreement with Mercosur (an economic bloc that includes Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) would harm competition for food produced in Europe. The agreement began to be neg
otiated in 1999 and proposed the union of both economic blocks to form a common market of 780 million consumers (260 million in Mercosur) through the elimination of tariffs, but it is blocked by the lack of unanimity among the parties. involved.

Some countries such as France argue that Mercosur farms operate under less strict labor and environmental regulations, something that would harm the European market. In response to the uprising of the French camp (among other things, against the agreement with the South American bloc), the president of the neighboring country, Emmanuel Macron, ratified his rejection of this treaty last week.

Mirror clauses

These are conditions that European farmers – especially in Spain and France – ask to include in the trade agreements that the European Commission negotiates with third countries. They require that food imported from outside Europe respect the same health, labor and environmental standards that are required of Community products in order to compete on equal terms. In order to implement this measure at community level, unanimity of the Member States is necessary. In countries with lower agricultural production, this works against their interests, which is why the agreement is far from being produced.

Phytosanitary

They are chemical substances that are sprayed on crops to keep the crops in good health and keep away possible pests. Farmers defend that they are necessary to increase the yield of production, and that the demand to reduce them coming from Brussels reduces the productivity of their crops. However, they also negatively affect the quality of soil, water and air in the areas where they are used. As a result of the demonstrations in France, the European Union reversed its proposal in which it intended that the countryside in the region reduce the use of these substances by 50% until 2030.

Platform 6F

It is a group that has emerged as the leader of the first days of agrarian protest in Spain. They organized through Telegram groups, organized by province, to call thousands of farmers throughout the country to a large march in which they demanded, in addition to the general demands of the countryside in Europe, to repeal the 2030 Agenda (which marks the EU sustainable development goals), as well as promoting the elimination of subsidies to unions. Its leader, Lola Guzman, linked to Vox in the past, says she does not represent any political interest, although her slogans follow the usual line of the ultra party.

Urbanite

Urbanite It refers to a “person who lives according to the uses and customs of the city,” according to the RAE. The term has been used recurrently by far-right groups in their attempt to differentiate between the rural world – where the oppressed workers supposedly reside – and the city as a place where “bureaucrats” who legislate from an office without knowing reality of the field.

On a global scale, this strategy became palpable in Brexit, where the vote in favor of leaving the EU swept rural areas of the United Kingdom while those in favor of remaining in the club prevailed in urban areas. Also in the 2016 US elections, in which Donald Trump found strong popular support in the agrarian areas of the country.

In Spain, Vox has tried to monopolize this strategy in recent years, both to attack the Sánchez Government for measures such as the Animal Welfare Law and to denounce the alleged interference of the EU's green policies in the interests of the Spanish countryside. In recent days, the PP has joined this line in its particular struggle with Vox to capture the agrarian vote. Its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, He described the Government as being “urbanite” and “not knowing the reality of the Spanish agricultural sector”, stating that environmental policy “cannot be designed from an office in Castellana”.

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