Trucks loaded with fruits and vegetables of Spanish origin have been victims again this Thursday of various attacks by French farmers, who are in full mobilization against their Government for multiple demands. These latest attacks, described as “unacceptable” by the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, have occurred in several places in the Rhône Valley, where hundreds of agricultural vehicles (from tractors and vans to excavators and trucks) have blocked the A7 motorway and the N7 highway, and have scattered over the roadway loads of manure, straw, debris and tires.
As a result of this action, about fifteen truckloads of fruits and vegetables have ended up on the ground south of the city of Montélimar, while in Nimes, several protesters have set fire to Spanish fruits and vegetables that had been emptied on the road in another blockade.
Sylvie Meynier, winegrower and head of the FNSEA union in the department of Drôme, acknowledged to the television channel BFMTV that with her group they had “stopped the foreign trucks with the greatest courtesy.” “We have opened them and emptied everything what was foreign,” he continued. “What pisses us off is that we have to import food what we have here. We produce under exceptional conditions,” added Meynier.
Already on Wednesday, various incidents with non-French food shipments were recorded. In one of them, in Brittany, images could be seen of the driver of a truck with French license plates trying to resist the farmers, who, upon seeing that he was transporting Spanish ham, emptied the box.
“I find it absolutely unacceptable”Planas stated before speaking at the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Commission of the Congress of Deputies to report on the general lines of his department’s policies.
The minister has indicated that he fully respects “the right to demonstrate and the right to freely express one’s opinion”, but as long as it is carried out “with respect and peacefully, not with violent means and coercion.” “These events break the very principle of free movement within the framework of the market,” he continued.
Complaints from those affected
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The Spanish Confederation of Goods Transport (CETM) has denounced the situation, which it has described as “outrageous” on its social networks, while the association of manufacturers and distributors of mass consumption Aecoc has requested this Thursday from the Spanish Government “to urge the French executive to take urgent measures to avoid the incidents that have recently been recorded on the French border and on other key roads in the country.
“These episodes put the safety of drivers at risk and the fluidity of commercial operations between France and Spain, as well as towards other European countries”, Aecoc has expressed in a statement. The CETM also warns that the protest actions “no longer only consist of block roads or slow down trafficbut they are also blocking access to logistics warehouses”, which is why they recommend postponing planned trips due to the possibility that this is a black friday on french roads.