Peasant mobilizations and the pre-agreement with the government
The peasant mobilizations that have caused major road closures in Catalonia have led to a pre-agreement with the government that confirms the need to listen to them more. When it is accepted to modify the nomenclature of the ministry to emphasize the words Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, it is also accepting that until now a climate action had been prioritized which, despite everything, must not be incompatible with the present and the future of the sector.
The improvement of relations between the administration and the farmers
Beyond the declaration of intent associated with the ministry’s name, in practice the cuts have begun to be interrupted after reaching agreements that involve increasing aid to the sector, severely punished by the drought and restrictions. And here again the need to improve the relationship channels between the administration and farmers, farmers and ranchers is clear. Because the effectiveness of government management consists in anticipating problems instead of acting as fire extinguishers when they break out. And this involves all governments, not just the Catalan one, because this has been the demonstration of an increasingly globalized form of mobilization, first we saw it in France and then we saw it here.
Complaints about excessive bureaucracy and new platforms
In this sense, it has been a few days since the scale of the protests saw the European Commission decide to take a step back in relation to the environmental requirements set for the coming years, assuming that they could not be applied without deeper negotiation. One of the most repeated complaints centers on the excessive bureaucracy associated with the granting of aid, which is why it is equally necessary that the administrations have taken good note of it. The unions that have traditionally represented the sector are the ones who must also open up a reflection because it has been clearly seen that a part of those affected did not feel properly defended, which is why new platforms have emerged. The consequence is that not all organizations have received the new institutional commitments to solve the sector’s problems in the same way.
Possible changes in the focus of the protests
Meanwhile, some voices are already pointing to the desirability of reorienting the protests towards the large distribution chains, which charge prices far removed from those paid to producers.