“Every day, our trucks are robbed and looted”: Spanish transporters denounced on Thursday the “violence” of the actions organized in France by farmers.
“The drivers are afraid to travel because the demonstrators threaten and insult them,” explains the Spanish Confederation of Goods Transport (CETM), one of the main organizations in the sector, in a press release.
Spanish drivers are calling on the authorities to guarantee the free movement of goods.
“These days, road transport companies and their professional drivers are facing situations of extreme tension,” insists the CETM, which refers to “attacks” and “unleashed violence” at the blockades organized by the demonstrators.
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The transport union particularly mentions the actions carried out at the Boulou toll barrier, a few kilometers from the Spanish border, and denounces the passivity, according to it, of the French gendarmerie in the face of attacks on trucks coming from Spain.
“The Spanish government (…) must demand that France guarantee the free movement of goods and the safety of professional drivers,” insists the Confederation, which considers the current situation “inadmissible”.
“Fake organic”
Since the start of the farmers' angry movement, criticism has increased in France against Spanish farmers, accused of flooding the French market with low-cost products using a greater quantity of phytosanitary products than in France.
“Have you tried the so-called organic Spanish tomatoes?
It’s inedible,” said the former French Minister of the Environment and ex-presidential candidate, Ségolène Royale, on the BFMTV television channel.
“Spanish organic is fake organic (…) Spanish fruits and vegetables do not respect French standards,” she added, repeating a criticism regularly made during demonstrations by French farmers.
These criticisms were strongly denounced by the agricultural sector in Spain, but also by the government, which assured that the “production and marketing standards” were “the same in all member states”.
Spanish products are exported because of their “quality and competitiveness”, and not for “any other reason”, said Spanish Minister of Agriculture Luis Planas.