2024-02-12 12:10:06
Spanish farmers take to the streets to demand greater flexibility in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), a reality adjustment to environmental regulatory requirements and aid that compensates for the economic losses caused by the drought, among other demands.
The assemblies started at 7:30 a.m. with tractors directly cutting off traffic lanes or occupying the lanes while traveling at low speed. The General Directorate of Traffic indicated early on that there were closures due to “demonstrations” at multiple points.
The protests are also noticeable on various interurban roads due to cuts and slow marches in Barcelona and Lleida, the Servei Català de Trànsit (SCT) has reported. In Valencia, a demonstration of farmers with tractors has blocked the northern access route to the city and the CV-30 since the early hours, as well as the CV-50 in L’Alcúdia and the A-3 near Cheste, although In the latter, a lane has already been opened.
There are divisions among the ranks of the Spanish camp. On the one hand, there is the employers’ association of the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers (Asaja), the Coordinator of Farmers and Ranchers Organizations (COAG) and the Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers (Upa), the three majority organizations in the sector that maintain dialogue with the Spanish Government.
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On the other hand, the Union of Unions, a group with the greatest presence in the regions of Castilla y León, Valencian Community and Catalonia, maintains its own agenda. In addition, other farmer groups are organizing autonomously through social networks and messaging groups.
Likewise, they are also reluctant to sign new free trade agreements, such as Mercosur, with Latin American countries. It is criticized that products from third countries, with a less demanding regulatory framework in terms of the environment or labor standards, can enter the EU, in what they consider unfair competition.
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