Farmers with hundreds of tractors protested against the import of food from non-EU countries

Prague – Hundreds of tractors and other agricultural machines hit some main roads in the Czech Republic today and headed to border crossings in protest against food imports from countries outside the European Union. Farmers did not significantly complicate traffic, blocking it completely only briefly at the Náchod border crossing and in some places merely demonstrating without machinery. Protests avoided Prague. Minister of Agriculture Marek Výborný (KDU-ČSL) told ČTK that he does not understand the protests. According to him, the agreement between the EU and the South American countries of the Mercosur association cannot push Czech farmers out of the market.

Czech farmers joined European protests with today’s actions, meeting farmers from neighboring countries at border crossings. The main organizers in the Czech Republic are the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic and the Union of Czech Farmers. They are demanding the abolition of the trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur association or at least the exclusion of agriculture from the agreement. They are also concerned about duty-free imports from Ukraine. According to farmers, in the mentioned countries, farmers do not have to comply with equally strict standards as in the union. Farmers are demanding the assurance of equal business conditions on the European market and also want to reduce bureaucracy.

According to Výborný, only a minimum of products are imported from South American countries to Europe, and moreover, the agreement with Mercosur does not mean the absolute liberalization of the market. “There’s a clearly set quota, which for example, for beef is double the current import, and anything above that would be charged a standard duty of about 20 percent,” the minister said. “If some plant protection products, pesticides, or nutritional preparations for livestock are restricted in Europe, it is logical, and I absolutely agree with this, that these conditions must also be met by farmers in the USA as well as, for example, in Latin America,” said Výborný. Regarding bureaucracy, he pointed to an amendment to the veterinary law approved by the Senate this week, which according to the minister, includes 35 changes reducing administrative burden. (February 27)