Cristina Alonso Madrid
Madrid
Updated Wednesday, February 14, 2024-01:13
Agricultural professional organizations are going to demand that the Government impose
higher fines on large companies that force them to lower prices
by forcing them to sell at a loss. It is one of the main demands that they are going to put on the table in the meeting that they will hold this Thursday with the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food,
Luis Planas
, who has summoned the representatives of Asaja, COAG and UPA to try to quell the wave. of mobilizations that have broken out throughout the country.
Farmers want to put the spotlight on
larger companies that fail to comply with the Food Chain Law
. As ELMUNDO has learned, what they are going to demand at tomorrow's meeting is that the sanctions be linked to the level of income. "We are going to ask that a billing scale be established and that the sanctions be higher for higher sales volumes," they advance from one of the organizations convened this Thursday.
Representatives of the agricultural sector denounce that
the sanctions, today, are "derisory"
, so that the companies that invoice the most "find it profitable" to commit violations. Indeed, the fines for violating the Chain Law reach only
3,289 euros on average
. The Food Information and Control Agency, which is part of the Ministry of Agriculture, has only imposed 195 sanctions since January 2023 and the total amount of the fines amounts to 641,398 euros.
Some large supermarket chains appear in the official list of sanctioned companies, such as Carrefour and Dia, with fines of around 3,000 euros, or
Alcampo
, with a fine of 39,600 euros. "Pyrrhic" amounts for food giants that bill billions of euros a year and that have increased their sales figures in the midst of the inflation crisis due to rising prices, according to complaints from the primary sector.
In any case,
none of these companies has been fined for failing to comply with the specific measure that prohibits selling at a loss
, a practice that forces producers to sell at prices imposed on them by the following links in the chain, from industry to distribution. , and that do not cover their costs. The most frequent violations have to do with failure to comply with payment deadlines and the obligation to formalize contracts in writing.
Faced with this reality, agricultural organizations are going to demand that Minister Planas act in several ways: first, by increasing ex officio inspections; second, making fines more expensive by linking them to billing; and third, passing on the proceeds to the injured party with
compensation that corrects the economic damage and encourages those affected to file complaints.
Representatives of the agricultural sector will also demand that
abnormally low price alerts be incorporated into contracts
to facilitate ex officio control by administrations or that mandatory inspections be carried out on companies that have been sanctioned in the previous campaign.
STRENGTHENING CONTROLS
The Ministry of Agriculture is open to
reinforcing inspections and increasing controls
, although, for now, it closes the door to increasing the amount of sanctions, as reported to this medium by the department headed by Luis Planas.
At this Thursday's meeting these and other issues related to strengthening the role of the Food Chain Observatory will be discussed. The organizations advance that they hope that the Government "makes a move" and the meeting ends with "some announcement" by the head of Agriculture to try to calm the spirits of the sector. However, they also predict that
the concessions "will be insufficient" and will maintain the planned mobilization schedule.