And what tomorrow? The calendar of official farmers' protests begins with the 'independents' now in the big cities

DAVID VIGARIO MÉRIDA

MERIDA

Updated Wednesday, February 7, 2024-18:47

This Thursday the tractor-trailers of traditional agricultural organizations arrive, which are legitimate from an administrative point of view because they are elected in each province every four years by professional farmers and ranchers. Ávila, Salamanca, Ciudad Real and Huesca are the first to take to the streets - with the respective permits from the Government Delegations - within a calendar of mobilizations of up to 30 tractor units that are expected from here to October 27 (Córdoba).

In parallel, but without a known agenda, the civil platform calling itself 'independent', but which has been joined by many people from the countryside who were eager to take to the streets, no matter who called them, many of them on their own initiative, will also continue with their mobilizations in what

the third day will mean, although with their sights set on Saturday, where they want to focus all their energies, on a great event in Madrid

, reinforced by the Transporters Platform, and which is scheduled to conclude on the street

Ferraz

before the doors of the PSOE headquarters.

That is now the most immediate thing with the intention of gaining muscle. "They are not going to stop us, you have to hold on because only then will they respect us," the leader of the movement, the

Valencian rancher Lola Guzmán

, has spread in a new message to her followers

, who feels strong again and is conscientiously preparing the organization of Saturday's mobilization in the capital of Spain with the intention of giving a new blow to the table after Tuesday's success. "Only when there is a shortage on the shelves and there is a lack of fuel will the government respect us and take us seriously," she repeats in her audios, which are spread through WhatsApp among thousands of farmers. "Don't give up, you have to continue two more days," she encourages them. The objective: a national strike of all sectors involved. At the moment, hundreds of protesters are already facing significant fines for participating in calls that were not officially authorized.

Already on the first day, in her statements to some media, the Valencian requested a direct dialogue with the Minister of Agriculture,

Luis Planas

. But yesterday, from the Congress of Deputies, and taking advantage of the questions asked by the opposition, she warned: "It is necessary to listen to them and provide solutions." She was referring, in a general way, to rural people, but later in the Senate, and with questions from journalists, she clarified: The Government maintains dialogue with agrarian organizations because "it is the only way to move forward."

So the message for the moment is clear.

The dialogue with the agrarian world corresponds to the agrarian organizations

, although there is a precedent not too far from this government in the last legislature when the mobilizations of the transporters broke out, led that time by another unofficial platform. In the end, they ended up sitting down with their representatives. Will something similar happen now?

At the moment, it is already a fact that this

National Platform for the Defense of the Transport Sector

, which brings together a good number of self-employed road transporters and SMEs, has announced that it will join the farmers' protests and has announced a

strike indefinite national

starting next Saturday.

The platform does not have the support of the employers' associations that bring together the large companies in the sector, but as has been recalled in March 2022, it already promoted a twenty-day strike that put the country's distribution chain in check.

And traditional agrarian organizations? In public, their messages (also those that will be heard tomorrow) will not reflect their concern for this independent platform and in fact they assure that "they respect every farmer and rancher who goes out to demonstrate because the problems are common." And they add: "We are farmers who defend farmers. Therefore, our utmost respect and consideration goes to all the farmers and ranchers who are today with their tractors in squares and roads. All

acts of mobilization are welcome

if they add up to the time. to reinforce the echo of the demands that we have been making in recent years in defense of professional farmers and Europe's food sovereignty," they say, for example, from

COAG

.

At the same time, they highlight that in the last few hours (but thanks to the work carried out for "many months"), important achievements are being achieved for the benefit of the agricultural sector:

the EU's shelving of the phytosanitary regulation

that would mean a 50% reduction in 2030 and This same Wednesday, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced the reinforcement of the Food Chain Law, which he wants to specify in the Food Chain Observatory convened for February 14. "And that is being achieved by the agricultural organizations, which continue in unity of action,"

ASAJA

states

.

Of course, they also clarify that since last Friday's meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture, and given the events that have developed this week, no one from the Government during these days of so much tension in the streets has addressed them again. Nor 'off record'. Not a single contact to try to redirect the situation. They are not interested in a photo with politicians now either... The only thing that is clear is that the agrarian division is a fact and it is becoming more common every day...