The unrest of the Spanish countryside escalates day by day. They are different demonstrations but they threaten to cause road closures, which will have consequences on traffic and, therefore, on the transport of goods by land. The first concentrations took place yesterday in Castilla y León – and today they are expanding to a multitude of provinces. A part of the sector is trying to ride the wave of protests that is sweeping through the heart of Europe and that has had its epicenter in France.
The reasons that move the protests are shared in all countries, also in Spain. The main one, the new system of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which introduces new regulatory and environmental requirements. “Excess bureaucracy has been the trigger,” says Carles Vicente, head of organization at Unió de Pagesos, of an unrest that has been brewing from further afield. Vicente maintains that the current CAP makes access to aid difficult, since it implements new requirements that increase the costs of the primary sector, which is why they demand simplification. Measures to deal with the effects of the drought, a review of the food chain law that effectively prohibits selling at a loss and ending unfair competition from non-EU countries, with lower environmental standards, make up the list of demands.
A minority association, Platform in Defense of Agriculture, has activated a “tractor movement” in several provinces since Tuesday. They are close to the extreme right and have organized themselves through mobile messaging groups. Its promoter is Lola Guzmán. They propose to block roads, “with a tractor whoever can,” or interfere with road traffic by circulating in all lanes “at the minimum speed of the road.” They have asked field professionals to join in not carrying the flags of any political party, only those of Spain and a black one, “as a sign of mourning.”
The representative agricultural organizations, Asaja, COAG and UPA, also have their own protests scheduled starting Thursday. On the same day the 8th they start in Ávila, Salamanca (which already experienced yesterday the closure of two highways that connect Spain and Portugal), Ciudad Real and Huesca. On the 9th it is the turn of “tractor drives” in Zamora, Bilbao and Extremadura. They are followed by La Rioja, Zaragoza, Toledo, Guadalajara, Murcia… Miguel Padilla, general secretary of COAG, explains that the protests are, for the moment, being called at the provincial level. “Our intention is that the calendar of mobilizations extends to all the autonomous communities and, afterward, we will see if we hold a large national demonstration in Madrid.”
The beginning of 2020 is in the memory of Spanish farmers. As soon as the first coalition Government was formed, the primary sector launched a calendar of mobilizations under the slogan “farmers to the limit.” They gathered in front of the Ministry of Agriculture. The pandemic paralyzed their protests. “We will see if we reach a call at the national level,” adds Padilla.
One of the novelties announced yesterday by the organizing organizations was to move the protest to two ports, Castellón on February 15, and Valencia on the 22nd. They emphasize that one of their demands is the “lack of border control of the imports from third countries, which enter through the ports”, which is why they have scheduled the first concentrations at the port nodes.
In Catalonia, the mobilizations are led by the territorial assemblies of Platform 6-F, together with the Union of Farmers, and with the support of Asaja, Federation of Agrarian Cooperatives and Young Farmers and Ranchers of Catalonia (Jarc). This Tuesday, concentrations are planned at different points in the province of Lleida and Girona. Also in Terres de l’Ebre, while in Vallès they will be concentrated in Granollers.
