Italian Farmers Protest Fines as Tractor Demonstrations Spread Nationwide
The Cospa (the spontaneous committees of producers born from the ashes of the Latte Cobas) are back in the streets, and Italy is predicting a hot, indeed burning, summer. A first taste was experienced yesterday, with hundreds of tractors invading the roads of Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, and Piedmont.
The Protest and the Authorities Involved
The protest had been announced some time ago, but what intensified it further was the authorization granted this week by the Minister of Agricultural Policies, Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, for the issuance of fines for the last two years (the 1997-98 and 1998-99 campaigns), with sanctions amounting to 907 billion lire imposed on over 32,000 farms.
The farmers also contest – and threaten spectacular protests in the coming days – the decision of the Lazio Administrative Court (Tar) which has referred the issue of paying the sanctions for the campaigns between 1995 and 1997 back to the International Court of Justice of the European Union: “This means,” protest the Cospa, “that the disputed years, accumulated so far, could increase even more, considering that the Tar’s initiative effectively blocks any legal decision on the appeals filed, including for the following two-year period, and allows industrialists to withhold the funds for the alleged overspend.”
The demonstrations in Northern regions
In Lombardy, protests focused on Varese – dozens of vehicles invaded Piazza Monte Grappa, in the heart of the city – and especially in Brescia and Milano, near Linate Airport.
At least four hundred tractors (from Brescia, Mantua, and Cremona) paralyzed traffic in the heart of the “Leonessa,” before converging in the Palatenda area for a general assembly. Meanwhile, about a hundred heavy vehicles returned to the Paullese road before merging into a parking lot a few hundred meters from the Milanese airport, where three years ago the first protest encampment against milk quotas and fines took place.
“A period has ended, and another begins,” emphasized the Cobas leader Giovanni Robusti. “We are in the same situation as in ’96: we gave the government the chance to resolve the issue, but nothing has been done.”
Robusti also recalled the results of the Government’s Inquiry Commission: “They had established that the quotas we contested were wrong. We stopped for two years to allow verification of those data, and now we see them reiterated. The system rigged the numbers at first and is doing it again now.”
Demonstrations in the North-East and Official Statements
Hundreds of tractors were also on the road in Emilia, Veneto, and Piedmont, where farmers gathered at the Forum Boario of Carmagnola: in the afternoon, a caravan of at least 400 agricultural vehicles marched in a parade.
“Milk quotas,” highlighted Antonio Bedino, president of the category association Cosplat, “no longer make sense. If a business wants to grow, there’s no alternative: it has to go beyond quota. Like all other productive sectors.”
In the evening, the minister announced that he had already asked Aima to verify the accuracy of the calculations used to determine the fines for the last two years.
However, Pecoraro Scanio also pointed out that the issuance of fines had been prompted by many producers. Only by knowing the extent of the fines can they qualify for compensations obtained with the additional quota granted to Italy last year by Brussels.
Carlo Cassamali