This Wednesday, February 7, for the second consecutive day, farm workers in Spain blocked roads in at least 17 provinces in the country and in Barcelona, the nation's second largest city. The protesters reproach the high costs in the production chain, while receiving low payments for their food. In addition, they demand the relaxation of environmental policies implemented by the European Union (EU), which they consider bureaucratic and excessive.
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The anger of the agricultural sector spreads throughout the European Union. Encouraged by the protests and blockades of their colleagues in neighboring countries, the mobilizations of Spanish farmers gained strength this February 7.
With their tractors lined up, hundreds of workers are collapsing important roads in at least 17 provinces of the country and in the last few hours they have also reached the center of Barcelona.
The mobilizations are recorded throughout the Spanish territory. The main ones take place in Catalonia, in the northeast, in the Valencian Community, in the east of the country, in Castilla-La Mancha, in the center, in the southern community of Andalusia, in Murcia, in the southeast, Extremadura, in the southwest and in Aragón, in the north of the nation.
“With different nuances, throughout the European Union we have the same problems,” Donaciano Dujo, vice president of the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers, one of the largest organizations in this sector in Spain, told the local channel 'TVE'.
Dujo thus referred to the widespread indignation among agricultural workers in Europe, due to factors such as high costs in the production chain. In Spain, they have also been encouraged by the consequences of the drought and due to the effects of the war in Ukraine, which increased the prices of energy and fertilizers, highly required in that area.
Likewise, farmers point out that the demanding rules imposed by the EU to protect the environment make them less competitive than their peers in other regions, such as Latin America or European nations that are not part of the 27-nation bloc.
“We spend more time doing paperwork than in the fields,” farmer Eva García told Reuters in the northern city of Vitoria, adding that the EU's Common Agricultural Policy is “suffocating” them.
Protesters reject free trade agreements and imports that qualify as unfair competition, because it is the ientry of food from nations like Morocco that, they say, do not comply with the same regulations and offer their products at lower prices. Among them, cherry tomatoes.
“The price of the products is always set by the businessman who buys them and then they can buy in other countries that do not follow the same restrictions as us,” farmer Joan Mata, 22, told Reuters while addressing the protest in Barcelona.
The Spanish Government announces aid in an attempt to calm the protests
Spain's Ministry of Agriculture announced on Tuesday, February 6, that it would distribute an additional €269 million in aid to almost 140,000 farmers to alleviate the impact of the prolonged drought and the economic effects of the war in Ukraine.
However, the demonstration continues and this Wednesday marked its second consecutive day, a protest that threatens to continue.
In the last hours, the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, committed to strengthening the food chain lawwhich among other points, eliminates the so-called 'sale at a loss' of farmers and promised to make the Common Agricultural Policy simpler (PAC) and facilitate adaptation to European regulations.
For its part, The European Commission asked “not to oversimplify” the reasons that have generated the mobilizations of farmers and ranchers in the EU.
“There are many reasons that have brought farmers to the streets in recent weeks and it is important not to oversimplify the situation because the problems of the agri-food sector are complex,” said EC Executive Vice President for the European Green Deal, Maros Sefcovic. .
With demands similar to those of farmers in Spain, workers have also demonstrated in countries such as Germany and Poland, since the end of 2023. And in recent weeks, anger has spread to France, Belgium and the Netherlands, with protests that in Sometimes they turned violent.
Although in French territory the workers lifted the blockades after the aid announcements by Emmanuel Macron's Government, among them 150 million euros in fiscal and social aid for this year, They warned that they would resume them if their promises were not fulfilled.
With Reuters and local media
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