tractors invade Rome and Madrid

Farmers’ anger continues to rise in Europe. More than a thousand farmers demonstrated again on Thursday February 15 in Rome, notably by driving tractors on a large ancient stadium in the city, the Circus Maximus. The same day, uFifteen tractors remained parked for around two hours on Thursday in front of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, in the heart of Madrid, before a meeting with Minister Luis Planas.

Since the beginning of January, farmers have been demonstrating in Italy against the drop in their income and the rise in their production costs, even if the scale of the movement has not reached the level of the rallies in France, Germany or Belgium.

Spanish farmers are also protesting against competition that they consider unfair from countries outside the EU, which are therefore not subject to the same rules, and against bureaucracy and standards that they consider too heavy. Spain, often referred to as the “vegetable garden of Europe”, is the leading European exporter of fruits and vegetables. Many farms are nevertheless in difficulty due, in particular, to the drought which has been raging in the country for three years.