Thousands of farmers and livestock breeders from different parts of Andalusia gathered this Tuesday in Córdoba in front of the 27 ministers of the European Union participating in the Informal Meeting of Ministers (RIM). The reason was unanimous rejection of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) because it 'does not guarantee the food system and does not develop a professionalised model of agriculture.'
The majority complaint of the sector, including Asaja, COAG, UPA, and Agri-Food Cooperatives. All these organisations protested with tractors, jeers, and slogans like 'you don't play with the countryside,' 'we don't want this CAP,' 'for the countryside all together,' or 'where is Minister Planas?'
The national president of Asaja, Pedro Barato, stated that 'this must be the beginning of a joint effort by all agricultural organisations to try to modify the atrocity that has been done in the Common Agricultural Policy with respect to our country.'
The national secretary-general of COAG, Miguel Padilla, emphasized that 'we are not against Europe,' but 'against the policies made in Europe regarding agricultural activity.'
The deputy secretary-general of UPA, Cristóbal Cano, lamented that 'farmers and breeders are no longer at the centre of European policies, and we are concerned about the direction that other productive sectors and influential lobbies are taking.'
And the president of Agri-Food Cooperatives, Fulgencio Torres, stated that 'water is life for us,' as 'agriculture and livestock without water have no future, they are dead.'
According to agricultural organisations, they do not reject European policies as a whole. They even advocate for a greater environmental burden or the reduction of the use of phytosanitary products or fertilisers. However, agricultural organisations do reject the current policies that 'endanger the competitiveness' of their products against those from other countries and Spain's dependence on products from abroad.
In this massive gathering, ministers of Agriculture of the European Union were also called upon to provide solutions and concrete measures against climate change and its direct effects on the countryside.