A trade union representing Catalonian crop growers and cattle ranchers has staged a protest, demanding that the EU compensate them for the revenues lost as a result of the escalation of sanctions, which have closed the Russian market to them.
A group of about 30 representatives from JARC (Young Farmers and
Ranchers of Catalonia), one of the biggest agricultural unions in
the region, demonstratively burned crates of ripe peaches outside
the Lleida municipality building.
As a throng of journalists looked on, the unionists hurled an EU
flag onto the bonfire, which disintegrated in seconds.
"We will not accept any more that the EU keep telling us what
to do, these people that have never set foot in a fruit field.
For once you will have to listen to the producers, not the
consumers," David Borda, a union official, told Ruptly news
agency.
Earlier this month, the European Union imposed sectoral sanctions
on Russian banks and high-tech industries in connection with
Russia's alleged meddling in the Ukrianina crisis. Russia, which
said that it had no responsibility for events in eastern Ukraine,
retaliated by banning imports of agricultural produce from the EU
for one year.
JARC, which also delivered a list of demands to government
officials, believes that the European Union’s political standoff
has harmed farmers, and says that they should be compensated
through the raising of tariffs on imported fruit and vegetables
from other countries, such as Turkey and Morocco.
The EU has allocated €125 million to help farmers in the
immediate aftermath. Finance group ING has estimated that the
annual losses as a result of the blocking of the Russian market
will amount to €6.7 billion a year, and could result in the loss
of 130,000 jobs.
Similar farmers protests have taken place across Spain, though
producers have targeted both, the EU and also Russia, whose
consulate in Seville was picketed earlier this week.