Photo. CTK/Šimánek Vít/gnews.cz
PRAGUE - Farmers today protested by driving tractors around Prague and demonstrating in front of the Strak Academy to express their disagreement with the government's current actions and to enforce their demands. According to the Agrarian Chamber and the Agricultural Union, the government is not defending the interests of Czech farmers. The ministers have made it clear that they are ready to continue negotiations, but they will not give in to pressure and blackmail. The Agrarian Chamber estimates that 3,000 to 4,000 farmers and 1,000 pieces of agricultural equipment have arrived in Prague. They made traffic difficult in the morning on the approaches to Prague, and during the day traffic jams formed especially on the tractor route around the Government Office and Letná. Police officers detained two people for the offences. One of them tried to climb over the roadblocks at the Government Office, while another deposited a pile of manure on the street and tram tracks in front of the building.
Farmers began arriving with their tractors, trucks and buses at the border of the capital after 05:00, and the first of them arrived at Letná around 6:00. From there, they then set off with their vehicles on a protest parade through the city, and after 11:00 they moved without vehicles to the Government Office. Shortly after noon, according to the farmers, symbolically five minutes after 12:00, the demonstration began. According to estimates by CTK correspondents, several hundred people took part and it lasted about two hours. Around 3:30 p.m., police spokesman Jan Daněk told ČTK that the tractors started heading home.
Jan Doležal, president of the Agrarian Chamber, and Martin Pýcha, chair of the Agricultural Union, reiterated at the demonstration that the government is not fulfilling its promises. According to them, domestic agriculture is in a critical state and farmers have nowhere to retreat to. Both of them again opposed cheap imports from third countries, especially grain from Ukraine and cereals and oilseeds from Russia. Farmers must be defended against imports from countries that may not meet the same conditions as those in the European Union, they said, because otherwise they lose their competitiveness. People whistled and shouted "Demise" or "Výborný to the dung heap" at Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný (KDU-ČSL), who came among the demonstrators.
Speaking to reporters today, Výborný stressed that the entire government is aware of the seriousness of the situation in agriculture. However, even given the current state of public finances, it is not possible to meet all demands. He criticised the manure incident in front of the Cabinet Office as well as what he said was a violation of the promise that the agricultural protest would not block public transport. He said the Chamber of Agriculture and the Farmers' Union were also not giving complete information to their members, but the organisations have subsequently objected to this. Excellent reiterated that he was prepared to continue negotiations with the farmers, but would not accede to ultimatums, he said.
President Peter Paul also said he understood that farmers were feeling frustrated. He told reporters at a press conference during a visit to the Central Bohemian Region this afternoon.
According to Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS), the government will not give in to pressure from farmers. He described today's protest in Prague as blackmail. The government is ready to meet the farmers at the negotiating table. According to the Prime Minister, the agricultural sector has record profits. In the context of the protest, Karel Havlíček, deputy chairman of the opposition ANO movement, called on Výborný to take into account the problems stemming from the import of cheap products and the subsidy policies of other EU countries in his support for farmers. Výborný has previously refused to enter the fray of national budgets in subsidising agriculture.
Until about 11:00, farmers drove tractors along a circular route around Letenské sady and the Government Office. The traffic was blocked around the Government Office, where a large pile of manure was left on the roadway, enclosed by a fence. Only farmers with their vehicles were going there, the trams had to divert. The farmers themselves arranged for the manure to be cleaned up, and it was removed after about 15:00; according to the municipality, the subsequent cleaning of the road was taken over by Prague Services. The police had already urged drivers not to drive to Prague at all, avoid the farmers' route or use public transport. A tractor and a car collided in the Letenské Tunnel this afternoon, injuring one person from the car, police said on social X nets.
The Agrarian Chamber and the Agricultural Union were the main organisers of today's protest. They are demanding from the government, among other things, support for rural employment, no cuts in animal welfare support and a return of land taxation to the level before the consolidation package or no tax on European operating subsidies. Another demand is that the government actively defend the interests of Czech farmers in connection with the trade agreement with Ukraine. The fifth demand is for the maximum possible increase in emergency aid to farmers, if the European Commission allows it.
The leadership of the Association of Private Agriculture has distanced itself from today's protest. In a press release sent to the Czech Press Agency, its chairman Jaroslav Šebek said that the Agrarian Chamber and the Agricultural Union, which were largely responsible for the current state of the sector. "It is a bare fact that these organisations have no long-term sustainable concept of agriculture and come only with populism of further financial demands on the state and taxpayers," he said.
Excellent reiterated to demonstrators today that the government will add more than half a billion crowns to animal welfare this year and next year will support rural employment with two billion crowns in social insurance discounts. Up to three billion crowns of investment support will be targeted at medium-sized farms this year.
The Czech Republic, like other European countries, has repeatedly experienced protests by farmers. On 19 February, some of them demonstrated in front of the Ministry of Agriculture in Prague, partially blocking the main highway with hundreds of tractors. However, the Chamber of Agrarians and the Farmers' Union distanced themselves from this action and instead participated in the European protest on 22 February against bureaucracy and environmental requirements in agriculture or imports from outside the EU. Hundreds of tractors slowed down traffic on main roads and at border crossings.
CTK/news.cz-JaV_07
https://www.ceskenoviny.cz/zpravy/nespokojeni-zemedelci-v-praze-demonstrovali-proti-vlade/2488348
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