The European Commission is working to
ensure a swift and effective response to the demands of
struggling Italian farmers, European Agriculture Commissioner
Janusz Wojciechowki said on Thursday.
"The Commission has listened carefully to the concerns of
Italian farmers. We are working to ensure that our actions,
including import safeguards, simplification and fair supply
chains, are strongly felt and swiftly implemented," said
Wojciechowki after taking part in the assembly of Italian
farmers' association Coldiretti in Brussels.
"I commend the work of Italian farmers, they combine ecological
methods with quality production to achieve environmental and
economic benefits and make a vital contribution to food
security," he added.
Farmers in Italy, as in other European countries, have been
staging tractor protests over national and European agricultural
and environmental policies and general hardship in the sector.
However Coldiretti, a powerful lobby in Italy, has distanced
itself from the Italian tractor movement, saying many of the
demands are "confused".
"Beyond the headlines, many of the demands of the tractors are
confused: we prefer to turn protests into proposals," President
Ettore Prandini told La
Repubblica newspaper in February, saying it would push to make
its voice heard in Europe.
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