Thousands of Spanish farmers staged tractor protests across the country for a second day
MADRID — Echoing protests across Europe, thousands of farmers in Spain took to the streets on Wednesday to demand changes to the European Union’s agricultural policy and its response to rising production costs and severe drought. The second day of tractor demonstrations were held across the country, blocking highways.
Several major national highways were blocked due to protests. Access to the eastern port of Castellon and the southeast Jerez airport was temporarily blocked. State news agency Efe said 1,000 tractors were slowly making their way to Barcelona’s city center, causing heavy traffic jams on roads entering the port city in northeast Spain’s Catalonia region.
The protest, which drew thousands of people on tractors and other vehicles, did not have the backing of Spain’s three main agricultural groups, which called for another protest in the coming days. .
Media reports said many of the protests on Tuesday and Wednesday were linked to conservative groups. No serious accidents have occurred so far. Demonstrations are expected to continue in the coming weeks, with large protests expected to take place in Madrid on February 21st.
Speaking in Spain’s parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pledged to support farmers and take their case to Europe.
The Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday announced about 270 million euros ($290 million) in aid to 140,000 farmers to compensate for problems caused by Spain’s severe drought and Russia’s war against Ukraine. did. Agriculture Minister Luis Planas Puchades met with farmers’ unions on Friday but was unable to persuade them to end their protests.
Protests have also occurred in countries including France, Poland and Greece in recent days.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has already made concessions to farmers on environmental and aid rules in recent weeks, and this week decided to shelve plans to halve the use of pesticides and other dangerous products. .
Belgian Foreign Minister Haja Rabib, who currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said on Wednesday that the rules governing agriculture “need to be reassessed in the light of current realities.”
“Resource scarcity, price shocks and increased competition are having a huge impact on the agricultural sector and rural communities,” said European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčović.
“We have seen from farmers protesting on the streets of Europe that many of them feel trapped and their needs are not being met. We must act,” he added.
But doing nothing could delay current EU plans for costly bureaucratic changes and approval of international free trade agreements that would bring cheap agricultural products to European markets, so the protests This will please many of the farmers in the area.
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Raf Cassart reported from Brussels.