MADRID (AP) – Hundreds of farmers drove their tractors into central Madrid on Wednesday as part of ongoing protests against European Union and local farming policies and to demand measures to alleviate production cost hikes.
The protest, the biggest to take place in the Spanish capital after more than two weeks of daily protests across the country, will include a rally outside the Agriculture Ministry headquarters.
Many of the tractors flew Spanish flags and some farmers carried banners reading, “There is no life without farming,” and “Farmers in Extinction.”
“It is impossible to live from the rural industry, which is what we want, to live from our work. That is all we ask for,” Silvia Ruiz, 46, a livestock farmer from the north-central area of Burgos told The Associated Press.
LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA, GRAN, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 21: Some of the demonstrators confront police officers during the sixteenth day of protests by tractors on Spanish roads, on 21 February, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. Farmers and ranchers from all over Spain have taken their tractors to the roads for the sixteenth consecutive day, to demand improvements in the sector, including aid to address the droughts suffered by the countryside. In addition, they are protesting against European policies and their lack of profitability. Hundreds of tractors began yesterday their slow march to Madrid where a large protest is planned today to give voice to the unease of the field. Farmers advance in five different columns that converge in the capital, trying to collapse traffic. This mobilization takes place five days after the meeting that the Minister of Agriculture had with agricultural associations in Madrid and ended without agreement despite the measures offered by Planas. (Photo By Carlos Lujan/Europa Press via Getty Images)
MADRID, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 21: Several demonstrators confront police officers during the sixteenth day of protests by tractors on Spanish roads, on 21 February, 2024 in Madrid, Spain.(Photo By Eduardo Parra/Europa Press via Getty Images)
The Union of Unions organizing group said they were bringing 500 tractors and many more farmers on buses. Many of the tractors may have to stay outside of the city because of government restrictions.
Similar protests have taken place across the bloc in recent weeks. Farmers complain that the 27-nation EU´s policies on the environment and other matters are a financial burden and make their products more expensive than non-EU imports.
Spain and the European Commission, the EU´s executive arm, have made some concessions in recent weeks but farmers say they are insufficient.
Besides EU policies, Spanish farmers maintain that a law aimed at guaranteeing that wholesale major supermarket buyers pay fair prices for their goods isn´t being enforced while consumer prices soar.
In neighboring France, the EU´s largest agricultural producer, the government of President Emmanuel Macron is also under intense pressure from angry farmers who held major demonstrations last month and have since continued with more scattered protests to push for better pay and other assistance.
Macron is expected to attend the opening of France´s major annual agricultural fair this weekend in Paris. Ahead of that test, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal sought Wednesday to convince the agricultural sector that he is speeding ahead with promised efforts to make farming more lucrative and simpler.
“In recent weeks, across Europe, farmers have made themselves heard with a cry of anger, a cry that comes from deep down,” he said. “Behind this cry is, most of all, a call for action.”
Attal promised draft legislation by the summer to strengthen the hand of French farmers in commercial negotiations with distributors over prices for their produce. He also promised measures to make it easier and cheaper for farmers to hire seasonal workers, including from abroad.
Attal also said his government is working to protect French farmers against imports from Ukraine of chicken, eggs, sugar and cereals.
“Solidarity with Ukraine is obviously essential, but it cannot be to the detriment of our farmers,” the prime minister said.
TOPSHOT – A chicken sits in a tractor’s cabin as demonstrators drive on their way to a farmers protest to denounce their conditions and the European agricultural policy in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, in Alcobendas, north of Madrid, on February 21, 2024. Several hundred tractors began to converge to the centre of Madrid, on a new day of mobilisation of Spanish farmers, who are denouncing the competition deemed unfair from certain countries outside the EU. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP) (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP via Getty Images)
Police officers escort demonstrators driving their tractors on their way to a farmers protest to denounce their conditions and the European agricultural policy in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, in Alcobendas, north of Madrid, on February 21, 2024. Several hundred tractors began to converge to the centre of Madrid, on a new day of mobilisation of Spanish farmers, who are denouncing the competition deemed unfair from certain countries outside the EU. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP) (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP via Getty Images)
LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA, GRAN, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 21: A column of tractors crosses Gran Canaria during the sixteenth day of protests of tractors on Spanish roads, on 21 February, 2024 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. Farmers and ranchers from all over Spain have taken their tractors to the roads for the sixteenth consecutive day, to ask for improvements in the sector, including demanding aid to deal with the droughts suffered by the countryside. In addition, they are protesting against European policies and their lack of profitability. Hundreds of tractors began yesterday their slow march to Madrid where a large protest is planned today to give voice to the unease of the field. Farmers advance in five different columns that converge in the capital, trying to collapse traffic. This mobilization takes place five days after the meeting that the Minister of Agriculture had with agricultural associations in Madrid and ended without agreement despite the measures offered by Planas. (Photo By Europa Press Canarias via Getty Images)