A campaign to boycott Spanish strawberries grown in the Andalusian province of Huelva, the top exporter to the EU, launched in Germany in the name of environmental protection, has angered farmers and the Spanish right and forced a parliamentary delegation visiting Spain to suspend its work on Monday. AFP reports.

This is a “cruel and unjustified attack on the agricultural sector of our country”, condemns the Asaja Agrarian Union in a statement, which complains of “aggression against thousands of producers and their families who work hard all year round to support their farms”.

This campaign, which targets strawberries grown in the province of Huelva in Andalusia (south), the top red fruit exporting region in the European Union (EU), is “harming the whole” sector, condemning in turn the Interprofessional Association of Spaniards. Strawberry, interface.

At the heart of the dispute is a boycott call launched by the German NGO Compact, signed by more than 162,000 people, demanding that major German supermarkets such as Lidl and Edeka withdraw strawberries produced in the province.

The NGO wants to condemn the draft law of the regional government Analuz – in the hands of the People’s Party (PP, right) – to regulate the illegal exploitation of red fruits located near the Doñana Natural Park – a place of refuge for millions of migratory birds.

According to some environmental associations, this initiative could lead to the legalization of 1,500 hectares of crops, most of which are irrigated using underground wells.

This could jeopardize the future of this symbolic reserve, classified by UNESCO, which is now threatened with desertification.

“If the Andalusian regional government achieves its goal, even more water will be used to grow strawberries,” which means “destroying this fragile ecosystem,” the agreement said, urging German consumers to stop buying the drought-stricken “strawberry.” “.

“Mixture”

The campaign was condemned last week by the PP, which says it wants to correct injustices caused by a previous law in 2014 that settled 9,000 hectares of illegal crops but left out hundreds of farmers.

“Strawberries in Huelva are the victims of ‘unfair attacks’ motivated by ‘ideological concerns,'” lamented Carmen Crespo, responsible for agriculture at the Andalusian regional government, accusing Spain’s left-led central government of backing the deal.

The dispute escalated on Monday with the visit of a delegation of nine German parliamentarians of all political stripes over the effects of drought and “illegal water extraction” in the Doñana region.

This “visit by German deputies” who “try to control the production of our farmers (…) is absolutely unacceptable. This is a mixture that no decent government should tolerate,” said Santiago Abascal, leader of the Vox party (extreme right), a supporter of the PP initiative in Anadalusia.

The speech was shared by Assad, who accuses Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of supporting this “smear campaign” for political purposes in the context of a “confrontation” exacerbated by the election campaign in view of the expected parliamentary elections on July 23. .

“Negationism”

Pedro Sánchez, who opposes the regularization of illegal farms, has consistently accused the PP and Vox of climate “denial” and has warned Andalusian authorities of possible European sanctions.

In this explosive context, a delegation of German deputies announced on Monday that they were suspending their visit, which was supposed to end on Friday, “taking into account the political importance” that the visit had acquired “during the upcoming parliamentary elections” in Spain. .

“This trip should serve as a technical exchange” in the “interests of our countries,” the German delegation lamented in a statement, hoping to “continue this exchange in the future.”

According to Interfresa, the province of Huelva produces 300,000 tonnes of strawberries a year – more than 90% of Spanish production – and creates almost 100,000 direct jobs.

Germany is its first export market, the annual turnover of which is estimated at 186 million euros.

At the beginning of 2022, about 20 European supermarkets, including Lidl, Aldi or Sainsbury’s, called on the Andalusian government to abandon the project.