Who is leading the farmers' protest? The clash between families makes it impossible to please everyone

DAVID VIGARIO MÉRIDA

MERIDA

Updated Thursday, February 22, 2024-02:39

"ASAJA does not support today's mobilization."

From his seat in the Congress of Deputies, the Minister of Agriculture,

Luis Planas,

tries to open wide the war between the agrarian organizations in the middle of the dispute for the leadership of the agrarian revolt that is in its third week since the tractors took over. streets to express the tiredness of the agrarian world.

Planas, - who suffered a slight faint while answering two oral questions from the opposition due to the "overactivity" of these days and who had to briefly stop his intervention -, aired a new strategy from the Government to stop as much as possible. as possible the inestimable strength that farmers and ranchers throughout Spain are demonstrating with their protests.

Yesterday's mobilization in Madrid was led by the organization 'Union of Unions',

the fourth most representative force but which is not present in the official agrarian bodies

that hold official meetings with the government, which are attended by

ASAJA itself, UPA. and COAG

.

These three have organized their demands jointly "in unity of action" throughout all the provinces of Spain during these days and are planning a tractor rally in the capital of Spain on the 26th, taking advantage of the visit of the European Ministers of Agriculture to the Office of the European Commission, located on Paseo de la Castellana.

TACTIC

Planas had already questioned the representativeness of the sector last Monday, when he assured the media that as minister he did not have sufficient parliamentary representation to

"unblock the bad law"

by which agricultural professional organizations are governed, the last update of which dates back to 2014.

For Planas, the regulations that were to launch rural elections at the national level have not been developed so, in the absence of new elections, the

Agrarian Advisory Council

, which has dialogue with the minister, continues to be represented exclusively by ASAJA, COAG and UPA.

At the regional level, there have been elections in communities such as Catalonia, Madrid, Castilla y León or Extremadura, where in recent years there has been a consultation with farmers and ranchers in each territory to obtain their representatives.

"Every time I have polled in the last legislature and also in this one," warned Planas, "I have verified that

any Government initiative could not have come to fruition due to the different points of view

," stated the minister who, in any case , stressed that "I have the dialogue with whom I should have it and I am going to maintain it."

Of course, he also indicated that "the agricultural sector is immensely complex," although he made it clear that "at this moment there is a reality of three organizations that represent the majority of the sector."

In this way, the Union of Unions - as it reiterated again yesterday at the Madrid rally - has repeatedly asked to meet with the minister to gain visibility that it gained yesterday in the streets of the capital of Spain.

In parallel,

the self-proclaimed 'independent' 6F platform

that led the mobilizations in the first days has also requested it, although its strength and credibility among the agricultural sector has dissipated for days.

In any case,

Pedro Barato,

the president of ASAJA Nacional, (which currently brings together the largest number of members, with more than 200,000 members and 60% of national production), came out to quickly respond to the minister's words in Congress: "

We strongly ask the minister to stop confusing and confronting the farmers

of this country and get to work and find solutions to the many problems that this sector has."

ASAJA denied that it was against the Union of Unions initiative and reminded the minister that all demonstrations by farmers and ranchers "that are carried out peacefully" have the maximum respect and support of ASAJA, whether or not they are called by this organization.

"The agricultural sector has every reason to take to the streets and highways and demand the demands that the countryside needs and that have been denied until now," said Barato, who added that "

all the mobilizations that are being carried out In defense of the agricultural sector they have our support and respect,

regardless of the acronyms and/or movements that have called them" and I appeal to "unity of action."