Unió de Pagesos reports the Spanish government to the European Commission for cancelling food security, animal and plant health, agricultural training and the CAP in Catalonia

Unió de Pagesos has filed a complaint today with the European Commission (EC) against the Spanish government for infringing European Union legislation and its Charter of Fundamental Rights as a consequence of the takeover of the Catalan government’s finances. The Spanish government issued Order HFP/886/2017 of 20 September 2017, cancelling the funds of all the budgetary programmes of the Agriculture Department –except salaries.

The union denounces this decision as arbitrary and unlawful and claims that it has repercussion on obligations established by the European Union that lead to key proceedings for citizens (monitor and control of food security, as it is set in Programme 613. Support to industry, agroindustry, commercialization and market regulation), as well as for the European agricultural sector (animal and plant health and notifiable diseases included in Programme 611. Plant and animal health and production control).

Unió de Pagesos also exposes that the Spanish government’s irrational decision discriminates against agricultural and fishing training, since it cancels the budget of Programme 335. Agricultural and fishing training, which concerns 10.800 learners and 4.000 distance learners. Order HFP/886/2017 does not affect training in other fields.

Finally, the aforementioned Order blocks the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Catalonia until the end of the year 2017, as it only excludes from the budget blockade investments coming from European funds. The budget of the Agriculture Department does not contain any item in Chapter 6. Investments to CAP aid lines, neither direct aid to active farmers nor aid related to the Common Market Organisation (CMO) of agricultural products, nor the Rural Development Programme, nor measures to monitor and control the CAP implementation.

The union has provided this information to the Catalan Members of the European Parliament (MEP) and has asked them to do all they can to get the European Commission to act immediately to re-establish the implementation of EU legislation in Spain and to stop the attack on European citizens’ rights in general, and on those of Catalan farmers in particular.