Threat to invade Lisbon, if the Government does not change agricultural policies, loss of absolute majority in the next Legislatures and accusations against Confagri, were notes from LuĂs Mira's speech, from CAP.
Led by the Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP), the men of the land left yesterday in Beja, the threat to the Government that until the next day 24 March, date of the new demonstration in Évora, “if there are no changes in the policies applied in the sector, we are going to invade Lisbon in protest”.
CAP Secretary General, reminded António Costa of the protests against the then minister of agriculture, jamie silva, of the Government of José Sócrates, were very hard: “also had an absolute majority and in the following elections they lost 250.000 votes. Those of us who are here are enough to make the same thing happen.”, said.
LuĂs Mira justified that farmers “are not asking for money, but to protest against the Government's incompetence in applying the community measures available to agriculture. If the Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy is not changed (SORRY) muda se and minister", He defended.
CAP's number two accused CONFAGRI (National Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives and Agricultural Credit of Portugal) to be on the side of the government. “They are holding the minister. They are not here, they are against us.. Today in Beja is all the Alentejo of this world”, concluded LuĂs Mira.
Despite the heavy rain that fell all morning, Beja received the biggest manifestation of the five promoted by CAP since January, where they've been more than 800 tractors that clogged all accesses to the Alentejo city. Many described this protest as the most participated ever in Alentejo, after there is 25 year old, in Ourique the farmers cut the IC1, the only road that connected Lisbon to the Algarve, and which led to a violent intervention by the GNR.
“The outrage, ineffectiveness, incompetence and inconsistency of the Ministry of Agriculture in the measures that are taken and the minister is the face of this bewilderment”, summarized to Lidador NotĂcias the president of CAP, Eduardo Oliveira e Sousa.
Rui Garrido, farmer and president of the Federation of Agricultural Associations of Baixo Alentejo, highlighted the fact that the poor performance of the Government “led to the union of the farmers as it had not been seen for a long time. The PEPAC that was made five years ago without consulting us, will soon be reviewed”, assured. Faced with the heavy rain falling in Beja Garrido, he joked: “Even God is with the farmers and sent us rain. A wet protest is a blessed protest.”, finished.
The farmers' words were all in the same vein, regretting the performance of the Government led by António Costa and in particular by Minister Maria do Céu Antunes. “The agricultural world is not forgotten, it is outdated”, said José Cravinho, farmer from Açor de Baixo Valley, municipality of Mértola. Turn, Jose Eduardo Goncalves, coming from Elvas, justified that “production costs are unaffordable, passed from 500 to 1.000 euros a hectare", summed up.
Supporting county farmers, on a personal basis, The President of the City Council of Moura was present at the demonstration, recalling that “they were the most massacred in recent years. It is urgent that the Government and farmers understand each other well for agriculture”, epitomized the socialist mayor.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
