Tractors will meet in the Arenal de Bilbao

EHNE-Bizkaia and ENBA-Bizkaia jointly announce mobilisations. They will meet in Bilbao on 9 February. The tractor rows shall be drawn from the following villages and valleys: Carranza, Gernika, Mungia, Durangaldea, Markina and Erandio. Everyone will meet in the Arenal. There they will make a transparent market and offer empty packed lamb quarters at a fair price. With this action they want to denounce the threat of bringing the New Zealand lamb and valuing its lamb.

Both unions consider that the agricultural sector “needs concrete and real answers to its problems”, and have grouped the demands into three axes.

Firstly, they call for the immediate suspension of negotiations on free trade agreements. For example, they call for the suspension of the treaty between the European Union and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and the non-ratification of the agreement with New Zealand. In general, they call for the cessation of all free trade negotiations.

Secondly, they call for food policies to be based on market regulation, so that baserritars and farmers have decent production prices. They call for a ban on selling below production costs.

Thirdly, the simplification of the European Agricultural Policy is considered essential, as it bears an “excessive bureaucracy” that generates “unacceptable” costs.

In Navarre, EHNE and the UAGN will soon complete the mobilizations

On 6 or 7 February, both trade unions will meet to implement the actions. The Secretary General of the Navarro trade union EHNE, Patxiku Irisarri, explained to ARGIA that the demands of farmers and farmers are focused on the European Union, and as the elections in June, the protests will be managed in that period. Both unions are in the Spanish Farmers and Livestock Coordinator COAG. The Spanish organisation has agreed to a protest in Madrid, although the date has not yet been set.

On 6 February, farmers in various areas of Navarre are called to protest. Apart from the trade unions, on 28 January a Whatsapp group was set up which has brought together almost a thousand people during these days.

The journalist Sagrario Zabaleta, in the news published on January 28 in the Diario de Noticias de Navarra, offered data about the Whatsapp group. According to Zabaleta, in a video the Valencian peasant Lola Guzmán announced mobilizations for February 6 in Navarra and in other communities of the Spanish state. According to Zabaleta, this action recalls the creation of the National Transport Platform. This platform was created without employer or union ties and was supported by Vox.

Álava, 6-7 February

UAGA will hold its central event on 7 Vitoria-Gasteiz, opposite the Basque Government. Tractors will depart from different points on 6 February and meet in the Jundiz polygon between 10:00 and 11:00. After overnight in a nearby car park, they will be in line in front of the Basque Government. The union will read a document. They will then return to the Jundiz polygon, where they will protest to the logistics platforms.