Josean Izarra

Updated Thursday, March 7, 2024-1:55 p.m.

Farmers in northern Spain and France have vigorously reactivated their mobilizations to demand that their energy costs be reduced and that fiscal changes be adopted in relation to the payment of VAT.

Basque and French farmers, summoned through social networks, have been blocking the AP-8 highway for two hours at the Biriatou border crossing, which has caused traffic to collapse for almost 20 kilometers.

In Pamplona, ​​farmers have tried to force their way into the Parliament of Navarra to improve their VAT tax conditions, but agents of the Provincial Police have managed to prevent their passage.

The farmers reactivate their protests and a huge tractor unit of up to 200 vehicles collapses the highway that connects Spain and France through Biriatou.

Spokesmen for both groups have warned that this mobilization is the announcement of a coordinated border closure that would also extend to Catalonia and northern Italy on June 1.

The claim shared by the Spanish and French protesters focuses on the reduction of energy costs (diesel and electricity) required by agricultural and livestock farms.

The protests, furthermore, have been especially virulent this morning in Pamplona on the outskirts of the regional Parliament.

About twenty tractors were in the vicinity of the Provincial Chamber when the plenary session began in which the 2024 budgets were finally approved.

A group of farmers has tried to access the interior of the Parliament of Navarra, which has been prevented by the Provincial Police, at the moment in which the socialist spokesperson intervened after it was known that the Chamber had not admitted a UPN amendment that included their demands, reports Efe.

Several farmers have followed the beginning of the debate from the guest gallery and have responded with applause to the intervention of the UPN spokesperson, Javier Esparza, for which they have been warned by the president of the Chamber, Unai Hualde, who has indicated that they should not Those types of expressions were allowed.

Next came the turn of the PSN spokesperson, Ramón Alzórriz, whose first words were received with anger by the farmers, who left the rostrum, while a group tried to access the Chamber from outside.

The Provincial Police have prevented their access and have closed the main door and after a few minutes of tension, the farmers have returned to the concentration, while their colleagues continue inside waiting for the doors to open.