The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, states that the government’s plan to tackle the sector’s problems covers more than 90 percent of the concerns raised by farmers and ranchers. He made these remarks to journalists in Lanzarote, a visit tied to the signing of a new agreement to improve irrigation, seen as another bid to calm the waters in Spain’s agricultural sector.
Planas explained that he is waiting for the organizations that act as the sector’s interlocutors with the government to respond. He was referring to Asaja, Coag, and UPA. He urged them to take a step forward and assume their responsibilities, as well as a commitment to the government. Because there is a substantial number of measures on the table that the government is prepared to implement, he asserted.
As the minister outlined to reporters, the package prepared by the Ministry to ease farm sector troubles includes six areas. The first is the simplification of bureaucratic processes. The second concerns the application of the Food Chain Law. It also covers the import of certain products that the farming community views as unfair competition, since they allegedly do not meet the same requirements as domestic goods. In addition, the plan addresses tax policy, financing, and crop insurance. It also focuses on livestock, especially extensive farming, and the challenge of ensuring generational succession.
Shifting focus to platforms
Planas did not hesitate to strongly criticize the platforms that have emerged from anger in farming communities in recent months, although he did not name them directly. He was referring to Platform 6-F, led by the controversial Lola Guzmán. The agriculture minister described these platforms as “falsely independent.” The government has sharply criticized this group since it emerged. Some sources link it to the far right. The first deputy prime minister and finance minister, María Jesús Montero, tied them to Vox.
The minister argued that this type of grouping exerts immense pressure on the sector. He emphasized that they foster tension, complicate the search for solutions, and drive a rupture in dialogue. The government, he said, becomes a victim of them because they advocate objectives that are completely unfocused, such as repealing the 2030 Agenda that sits beyond the national arena and is part of United Nations affairs. Pursuing those political slogans does not help in finding real solutions. For this reason, Planas called for a return to the normality that most of the sector also desires.
Europe
He recalled that European agriculture ministers will meet again on March 26. He highlighted that they have already asked the European Commission to present proposals on adapting the regulations as soon as possible, proposals that would permit significant changes. It is crucial for these measures to be approved within the current European legislative term, which ends in late April. We have very little time, but it is possible, he stressed. We are at the forefront among member states in delivering a European-wide response, he concluded.
Despite the minister’s efforts to portray himself as permanently in touch with a sector to which he has extended a helping hand and continues to do so, protests are easing but not ending. They have not yet convinced him. On Tuesday, nine Guardia Civil officers were injured in clashes with farmers and ranchers who blocked a road in Castile and León. Yesterday, Catalan farmers blocked a section of the AP-7 in Tarragona. And today, dozens of farmers tried to gain access to the Navarra Parliament during the budget debate.