Spanish and French farmers have taken a stand against the European Union’s supposed bias towards cheaper imported products, which they claim have put the agricultural sectors in France and Spain in dire straits.
Protesting farmers blocked off the border between the two countries that runs through the Pyrenees mountains, arguing that the EU has burdened local producers with unreasonable environmental rules, higher taxes, and expenses while allowing cheaper imports from outside the EU to unfairly flood markets and stores in the region.
**Enough is enough. Hundreds of tractors were parked on most of the major crossings between the two countries, from the AP-8 highway in Irun in the Basque Country to the AP-7 highway in La Jonquera, Catalonia. The protest, named the “Revolta Pagesa,” coincides with the approaching EU elections, which protesters hope will highlight the adverse conditions EU regulations have put local farmers in.**
“We must protect ourselves and ensure European authorities pay attention to us,” a representative for the protesters told media outlets.
**It’s about time someone stood up to the EU’s ridiculous double standards. The farmers have been protesting EU farming regulations for months and staged a similar traffic disruption earlier in the year to draw attention to the lack of food security imports create. Those protests managed to secure an extension of subsidy allowances by six months for the weakened agricultural industries in both countries, as well as a relaxation of several regulations under the EU’s Green Deal program.**
Farmers participating in the current protest say that their demands are more than reasonable.
“We’re not asking for the earth,” cattle farmer Jérôme Bayle told the press. Bayle, who hails from Haute-Garonne in France, said that farmers were just looking for some form of standardization “in terms of regulations and taxes” across the entirety of the EU.
**Exactly. Is it too much to ask for a level playing field? Not according to these farmers, who have had enough of the EU’s burdensome rules that seem designed to favor anyone but the local producers.**
Not all the farming unions joined the protests, however. Unió de Pagesos, which represents most of the farmers in Catalonia, said that it and its members would not be protesting. The group reasoned that it was “illegitimate” to pressure voters just days before the elections.
**Illegitimate? Or maybe they’re just too cozy with the bureaucrats in Brussels to stand up for their own members.**
The “Revolta Pagesa” is more than just a protest; it’s a battle cry from those who feed us. These farmers are demanding fairness and recognition from a system that seems to have forgotten them. As the EU elections approach, it’s high time the powers that be took notice.
