Editorial: El Español

• The Spanish government is rushing to stop local agricultural organizations from joining European agricultural protests.
• The agricultural sector, hard hit by energy costs arising from the crisis in Ukraine, is calling for the suspension of several trade agreements.
• Protests focus on unequal access for foreign producers to European markets, labeled as unfair competition.
• EU health and environmental regulations should be equally imposed on international producers.
• Other problems include drought, the complexity of the CAP and labor and production cost issues.
• There is general acceptance of the agricultural and livestock sector being collateral victims of economic downturn policies.
• The claims of the agricultural sector are reasonable and a unified response from the EU is needed.

Conclusion: The unfair competition by international producers needs to be addressed by the EU. The agri-protests are a reflection of serious issues threatening the food supply chain and our dependency on producers outside the EU.

---