Spanish farmers join protests against EU agricultural policy

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 Feb 2024 00:45
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Demonstrators demand concrete measures to help rural residents tackle a string of difficulties.

Spanish farmers block a street with their tractors during a protest in demand of fair conditions for the agricultural sector, in Burgos, northern Spain, on February 6, 2024. (Photo by CESAR MANSO / AFP)

Thousands of farmers took to the streets across Spain on Tuesday, using tractors to block highways and key infrastructure in a mass protest against European agricultural policy.

Called to action by the "Union de Uniones" regional farmers syndicate and activists, the protesters gathered at dawn at dozens of road junctions, including many that lead into large towns and cities.

Demonstrators, some of whom waved Spanish flags, demanded concrete measures to help rural residents tackle a string of difficulties. Protesters also warned about instability in the farming sector.

According to the traffic authorities, tractors driving at a snail's pace converged in and around the provinces of Toledo near Madrid, Murcia in the southeast, and Seville and Girona in the northeast.

Authorities in the southern port of Malaga said on X that protesters had also blocked off its access routes.

Spain's three main agricultural unions, Asaja, Coag and UPA, who did not take part in Tuesday's demonstrations, announced they would stage other protests later this week, notably in the western city of Salamanca on Thursday and the northern port city of Bilbao on Friday.

Angry farmers have been protesting across Europe over the struggles faced by the sector due to rising costs, high fuel prices, soaring inflation, bureaucracy and the environmental requirements in the EU's updated Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its forthcoming "Green Deal".

The three unions -- which have denounced EU agricultural policy as too complex with overly restrictive legislation and allowing unfair competition from foreign exports -- held emergency talks on Friday with Agriculture Minister Luis Planas, who agreed to work on a response.

But the talks were not enough to head off the crisis that had been brewing since January in many EU nations including Belgium, France, Germany and Italy.

"The government understands the sector's concerns. We are taking things in hand and from the start, we have been working closely with them," said Pilar Alegria, spokeswoman for Spain's left-wing government.

The government was trying to help those affected by the ongoing drought with 140,000 farmers set to benefit from 270 million euros ($290 million) in grants, she said.

Ecology Minister Teresa Ribera told public radio that the government understood the farming sector's concerns given the drought and the "bureaucratic burdens" they were facing.

"We have to adapt the European sustainability objectives -- the so-called European Green Deal -- to the pace demanded by Europe's farming sector," she said.

As the continent's leading exporter of fruit and vegetables, Spain is often described as the "vegetable garden of Europe". But its agricultural sector is facing difficulties, largely due to the lack of rainfall that has plagued the Iberian peninsula for the last three years.