Rabat – European farmers continue to block roads and attack Moroccan trucks transporting vegetables in protest against what they see as unfair competition from non-EU countries.
On Wednesday, Spanish news outlet El Pais reported that a hundred farmers who were blocking access to the Port of Tarragona had abandoned the protest as of 10:00 a.m. The post is located on the northeastern Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula and is a vital port for transporting merchandise to Spain and other European countries.
El Pais report further explains that about 400 continued to block the AP7 highway on Wednesday morning in Pontos, Girona, about 40 kilometers from the French border.
Video footage circulating online shows farmers setting up roadblocks using trees and setting tires on fire to stop trucks carrying vegetables from reaching EU markets.
Another Spanish media RTVE Noticias reported today that farmers are using about 500 tractors to block the vital Spanish highway leading to France.
“Farmers in Girona have decided to continue their protests and want to maintain the closure of the AP7 until they receive a response to their demands and until they have a meeting with the Generalitat,” the media said.
Farmers’ main complaint is that vegetables sourced from outside the block, including from Morocco, constitute “unfair” competition.
Farmers maintain that countries like Morocco do not have a competitive advantage as they do not have to comply with the same environmental and labor standards, which lowers the cost of production and allows them to sell vegetables at a cheaper price.
EU is a major importer of agricultural goods from Morocco.
Over the first nine months of 2023, Morocco’s exports of fresh produce to the EU totaled €1.83 billion. The block relies on Moroccan imports to keep its markets supplied.
Over the years, EU farmers have persistently complained about the fact that Moroccan produce is sold at a lower price in local markets, claiming that Moroccan exports rely on “labor exploitation” to lower the cost of production.
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