The Government is mobilizing to stop a possible contagion effect in Spain from the protests in the agricultural sector in France. The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has called next Friday to the organizations Agrarian Association of Young Farmers (Asaja), Coordinator of Farmers and Livestock Organizations (COAG) and Union of Small Farmers and Livestock Growers (UPA), to a meeting to address the demands of professionals.
The minister thus responds to the request for a meeting raised in the joint letter by the three organizations and received yesterday, the 30th, in this department.
Agricultural organizations in Spain have requested, for the moment, immediate solutions to “mitigate” the problem of the primary sector. They demand “immediate” solutions to address the consequences of the drought and the War in Ukraine, prices and production costs, simplification and flexibility of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), livestock sectors and labor and Social Security issues. The mobilizations are currently planned at the regional level.
The Government respects the demonstrations that are taking place in France and other European countries and even “understands” the sector’s concerns. Agriculture sources recall that for this purpose, the food chain law was reformed with the aim of addressing one of its historical demands from professionals: prohibiting sales at a loss.
The same sources add that the refund of the special hydrocarbon tax on agricultural diesel will be maintained this term.
To facilitate the activity of transporters and minimize the impact of the mobilizations in France, the Ministry of Transport has signed an instruction that enables the driving hours of transporters who have been affected by the cuts and retentions in the neighboring country to be made more flexible. . These exemptions apply from January 22 to February 4, both included.
Furthermore, the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, met on Tuesday with the European Commissioner for Transport to convey the Government’s concern about the situation created in France by the alterations and cuts to the main communication routes, with notable consequences. for Spanish transport.
