Ben Pawlowski
FARMER protests in Spain have entered their third week with roadblocks continuing to cause chaos on the nation’s roads.
Protests show no sign of slowing despite the government proposing a new 18-point plan designed to temper agricultural anger and help farmers across the country.
Frustrated farmers have been blocking roads in protest against EU regulations, which they claim allows them to be undercut by foreign growers who can offer their produce for less.
In Andalucia, striking farmers have targeted the A-92N motorway, whilst protesters in Mallorca are set to congregate in the island’s capital, Palma.
In Logroño, over 50 tractors have assembled in an unannounced and unofficial protest.
A spokesperson for dissenting farmers said: “We want peaceful, slow marches, without interrupting traffic”.
In Murcia, farmers have announced plans to target the region’s main roads in the coming days.
The new wave of protests come as Luis Planas, the under-fire Minister of Agriculture, meets this afternoon with officials from the autonomous communities in order to address problems within the farming industry.
“We are going to talk about these issues. I am going to accept and listen to your suggestions and then defend them in Brussels”, said Planas.
The government has already committed to a number of measures designed to appease agricultural anger, including maintaining a subsidy on farmers using diesel, re-shaping food chain laws, and asking EU bosses to simplify the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which provides subsidies for producers.
Protesters also want the EU to pause the negotiation of trade deals with New Zealand, Chile, Kenya, Mexico, India, Australia and Mercosur, the South American trading bloc, arguing that imports from these countries represent unfair competition.
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