French and Spanish farmers again blocked two major border crossings in the Pyrenees on Monday evening to “influence” next Sunday’s European elections and demand, among other things, cheaper energy, Le Monde reports.
According to Luis Francisco del Acqua, a cereal producer from the Valladolid region of northern Spain who was present at the Biriatu (Pyrenees-Atlantics) toll road, the protest of farmers and cattle breeders, which began on Monday morning, will continue “all night, until tomorrow” on Tuesday. Eloi Huguet, a goat farmer in the Girona region (northeastern Spain) who took part in blocking the A9 Montpellier-Barcelona motorway at Le Pertuis, on the French-Spanish border, told Agence France-Presse on Monday evening:
“We will stay until 10 a.m. tomorrow [Tuesday].”
For its part, Vinci Autoroutes confirmed that the A9 remained blocked on Monday evening, adding that in Biriatu a “filter” allows some light vehicles to pass on the A63.
Spaniards joined the French farmers
By 10 a.m. on Monday morning, a long queue of dozens of Spanish tractors had joined the few French farmers standing at the A9’s junction with the border in the Pyrenees-Orientales.
As with the blockade of the A9 motorway, protesters blocked seven other border crossings between Spain and France along the Pyrenees, from Catalonia to the Basque Country on Monday.
This protest in support of cheaper energy and compliance with mirror regulations (which would impose the same environmental standards on third-country farmers as in Europe) was unique in that it was not organised by traditional farmers’ unions. Xabi Dallemane, one of the organisers of the “no label” action in the Basque Country, explains:
“It’s not normal to have standards imposed on us that are not respected for the products we import.”
For this cattle and duck farmer in Bidach, the action is “peaceful” and aims to “put pressure on our future MEPs.”
“If nothing changes, we will start acting again.”
Josep Ballucera, a 39-year-old Spanish farmer from Santa Coloma de Farners in the province of Girona, also said:
“No one would ever buy a toy or a car that doesn’t meet European standards, but we import and sell food that doesn’t meet them. If nothing changes, we will start acting again.”
Jérôme Baillé, a livestock farmer from Haute-Garonne who took part in an agricultural protest movement earlier this year, added:
“We want to have an impact because when I talk to the government they tell me that 80 per cent of agricultural legislation is decided in Brussels. So we have realised that the battlefield is no longer national but European.”
He also noted:
“This has nothing to do with the protests at the end of winter, when farmers from all over France blocked motorways and sprayed prefectures with liquid manure. We are not asking for the end of the world, it’s just that Europe needs to be standardised in terms of regulation and taxes.”
Spanish farmers fights for for the defence of the land
On the Spanish side, the farmer protests are led by local platforms, most of which have been set up in recent months and organised via Telegram. One of them, the Catalan collective Revolta Pagesa (“Peasant Revolt”), claims to be fighting “for the defence of the land and for food sovereignty.” Spanish farmers in the south of the country have already blocked this motorway route in February and March.
Jean Henrique, a 30-year-old grape grower standing in the blockade on the A9 motorway, also warns:
“We are doing it to put pressure before the European elections. If nothing changes, we will be back in action next autumn.”
Meanwhile, French MP Nicolas Dupont-Aignan on X backed the protesting farmers:
“Full support for the unprecedented movement of French and Spanish farmers. Enough of the government’s empty statements! We urgently need a new agricultural policy that simply allows farmers to make a living from their labour.”
