Cristina Alonso Madrid

Madrid

Updated Monday, February 5, 2024-16:30

Compensate with

an "immediate single payment"

to farmers who have suffered losses in attacks on Spanish transporters on French roads or a

general reduction in taxes for the countryside

. These are some of the measures that the Popular Party proposes in the shock plan that it has designed to address the crisis that the sector is going through due to the "inaction" of the Government of

Pedro Sánchez.

The PP met this Monday in Genoa with the Agriculture Councilors of the autonomous communities in which it governs and has agreed on a package of measures to support the agricultural and livestock sector,

a "strategic" and "leading" activity, which is a "brand Spain,"

party sources defend. In this way, those of

Núñez Feijóo

raise the flag of the countryside and aspire to lead their fight in the middle of the electoral campaign, assuming their demands and supporting their protests at the gates of the Galician elections and with the Basque and European elections just around the corner. .

The popular support the rural protests but, in principle, they do not plan to participate in the mobilizations that start this week in different parts of our country. They do present themselves as

"the great party of the countryside and rural areas"

, marking ground in the opposition to the Government against Vox, which since its birth has been appropriating the defense of the countryside.

From the PP they affirm that "the ideological drift of the Sánchez Government against the countryside, farmers and ranchers has had obvious and disastrous consequences" and to solve the current crisis they have put in black and white a shock plan with up to fifteen measures. An omnibus package that compiles some of the proposals that the party has been insisting on in recent months, such as the

reduction of VAT on meat and fish

, in tax matters, and other more innovative ones such as the payment of

compensation in a " immediate payment"

to farmers affected by the loss of product in the attacks on French territory.

In the fiscal area, the popular ones demand that the Government suspend the

tax on plastic

, which Spain has applied hastily in the European environment and already contributes a revenue well above the estimates of the Executive itself in its first year of application, and undertakes

not to create new tax figures or apply more additional burdens

to any of the agents in the food chain. That is, they demand that taxes such as the one Sumar has proposed for supermarkets not be implemented.

The shock plan also includes measures to

guarantee food production in Europe

and not increase our dependence on third countries, eliminating restrictions on production and reviewing trade agreements, as well as a review of eco-regimes within the framework of the

CAP and the Food Chain Law

at the national level.

In parallel, it asks to review the combined

agricultural insurance plan

to update yields per hectare and expand coverage in the face of market problems and reform the

agri-food PERTE

, "reviewing the criteria and funds assigned by the government so that they adjust to the characteristics of the fabric agroindustrial of our country", as well as creating a group of experts to review current

animal health

policies and launch a

National Water Pact

to solve the problem of drought.

In a generic way, the PP proposes to "review all those elements that hinder our competitiveness in national regulations and are not a consequence of any European requirement" and requires that any regulation that is approved must include a report on its impact on the rural economy and in food production, what is called "rurality impact".