Agricultural crisis: in Italy, farmers head towards Rome, roads blocked in Spain
The anger of farmers continues to be heard in Europe... If the tractor movement has calmed down in France and Germany, it hopes to gain momentum in Italy, where peasant groups have announced they are heading towards the capital, to lead a first more global mobilization starting this Thursday, February 8 in Rome. The movement of anger is intensifying in Spain, where thousands of farmers blocked roads this Wednesday.
A convoy of tractors drives on the provincial road of Cassia, towards the outskirts of Rome, as part of an action by farmers to pressure the government to improve their working conditions, near Sutri, February 5, 2024. AFP - ANDREAS SOLARO
By: RFI Follow
Advertisement
Read more
A march on Rome. This is the ultimatum launched on social networks by Italian farmers. Some have already been standing near the ring road since Monday February 6, but from this Thursday, the tractors must gradually converge from the north to the south of the Botte to reach rallying points in the suburbs of the capital, reports our
correspondent in Rome,
Blandine Hugonnet
For now, the idea is to “
encircle
” Rome, but without blocking the roads. If, until now, the protest, launched by two small spontaneous groups, was limited to local blockades and in dispersed order, the watchword in Rome is unity, promises the breeder Salvatore Fais, one of the leaders of the mobilization:
“
By the end of the week, we want to put pressure on... From Friday, we will start moving, going to the streets of Rome, on the ring road. We are going to demonstrate all together, all united, because the farmers have all had enough. I hope that the government will immediately take matters into its own hands…
”
The organizers are betting on 2,000 machines in the large suburbs of Rome and 500 in procession on the ring road this Friday.
A protest against European policies considered too restrictive, which devalue Italian products, an identity that the sovereignist government claims to defend. Faced with peasant exasperation, its leader,
Giorgia Meloni
, announced an increase of 3 billion euros in the European budget dedicated to the agricultural sector of the Boot and promised continued tax relief for small farms.
Read also: Farmers’ crisis: environmental measures put on “pause”
Brussels also responded on Tuesday, announcing to cancel a measure to reduce pesticides. Announcements and relaxations in the hope of appeasing anger, at a time when the mobilization, until now timid in the third European agricultural power, intends to move up a gear with the march on the capital.
In Spain, farmers are not taking off
Farmers use their tractors to block the C-33 highway as they travel to Barcelona during a protest against price pressures, taxes and green regulations, grievances shared by farmers across the Europe, in Barcelona, Spain, February 7, 2024. REUTERS - ALBERT GEA
While anger has subsided in many European countries, long columns of tractors have taken over the country's roads, particularly in Castile-la-Mancha (center), Andalusia (south) and Catalonia (north-east), according to the General Directorate of Traffic. Thousands of Spanish farmers blocked roads on Wednesday to protest against European policy and the precariousness of the sector, despite conciliatory messages from the government.
The epicenter of the demonstrations, Spain's second city, Barcelona, saw nearly a thousand tractors converge during the day, coming to demonstrate in a concert of horns in front of the headquarters of the Catalan regional government.
These gatherings, called on social networks, led to major traffic jams, particularly on the Franco-Spanish border. In the morning, the French authorities took compulsory parking measures for heavy goods vehicles. In Malaga (Andalusia), access to the port was briefly blocked for the second day in a row, according to the town hall. Access to the port of
Castellón
, in the Valencia region (east), was also hampered, before the police dispersed the demonstrators. This new day of demonstration aroused tensions with the police for the first time, particularly in Granada (south). A total of twelve people were arrested in the country, according to the Interior Ministry.
Spanish farmers during a demonstration against high costs, bureaucracy and competition from third countries, in Castellón, Spain, February 7, 2024. REUTERS - EVA MANEZ
Spanish farmers, like their European colleagues, denounce a European policy that is too complex, standards that are too restrictive, prices that are too low and competition deemed unfair from foreign products imported into the EU.
Read alsoSpain: farmers block many roads
Divisions still as deep on agriculture in the European Parliament
The farmers' crisis in Europe also continues in the European institutions and more precisely in the Strasbourg Parliament where MEPs held a debate this Wednesday on the future of the sector and how to respond to its demands. While mobilizations continue in different countries of the European Union, this debate demonstrates to what extent the different political groups are divided on the issue.
01:18
Agriculture: divisions remain deep in the European Parliament
Romain Lemaresquier
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your inbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Share :
Continue reading on the same themes:
Italy
Agriculture and Fishing
Giorgia Meloni
Social issues
European Union