Farmers and livestock breeders in Mallorca have taken to the streets of Palma this Thursday morning and have brought out their tractors in protest against the cuts in the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. They are mounting two protests organised by different agricultural organisations in Ariany and Palma, both starting at 10 a.m.
Unió de Pagesos and the Association of Organic Agricultural Production of Mallorca (Apaema) have called for a tractor protest in the form of a slow drive through Palma, while UPA-AIA Baleares, the Agri-Food Cooperatives of the Balearic Islands and Asaja have organised a tractor protest in Ariany.
The Palma protest started at 10 a.m. in front of the headquarters of the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, where there was a whistle-blowing protest, and will continue to the Son Morro industrial estate, where Agama’s headquarters are located, passing through Calle del Ter, Calle del Gesamí and Camino Salard. The march is scheduled to end in front of Mercapalma, which, in the opinion of the agricultural organisations, represents ‘everything that Mercosur is not’.
In addition to expressing their rejection of the treaty with Mercosur, the organisers are calling for the defence of local products, a reduction in bureaucracy, a stance against CAP cuts and universal access to aid. Meanwhile, a rally began in Ariany at 10 a.m., to demand ‘real and urgent’ solutions to the critical situation that, they say, the sector is facing with regard to the future of the CAP and the EU-Mercosur agreement.
The aim is to highlight the discontent in the countryside and demand profound changes in European and national agricultural policies. Farmers are attending the rally with their tractors and agricultural machinery, and a manifesto will be read out setting out the demands of Mallorca’s agri-food sector.
With regard to the CAP, the organisations have complained that it is no longer a ‘truly common’ policy, as each Member State is allowed to design it differently. In their view, this breaks the unity of the market and creates unfair competition between European farmers.
In addition, they complained there are budget cuts, a ‘lack of clarity’ in financing and the risk that the CAP will be “diluted” within general budgets, as well as ‘increasingly complex and scattered’ regulations. Regarding the agreement with Mercosur, these organisations reject the fact that it allows the entry of agri-food products produced with health, environmental, labour and animal welfare standards that are lower than those required in the European Union.