Orange protest in Madrid and Pego

Growers and supports outcry against imports from Africa

ORANGE-growers and their supporters from all over the east coast staged a massive protest in Madrid on Tuesday over the EU’s having opened the bloc to fruit imports from South Africa, Egypt and Turkey.

Farmers, retailers, cooperative and warehouse staff, export workers and small landowners converged on the European Commission building in Spain’s capital, having come from the Valencia, Murcia, Andalucía and Cataluña regions.

As shown in the picture, many demonstrators from the Valencia region brought their regional flags, to remind commissioners of their presence.

Although the national agriculture union ASAJA says its members across Spain are not against healthy competition, the EU’s relaxing of certain import rules with a handful of countries means the market is now being flooded with mostly South African, but also Egyptian and Turkish oranges, when Mediterranean producers are already struggling to survive.

Huge swathes of orange groves lie fallow because it costs more to harvest the fruit than the owners earn from their sales, especially with labour costs being prohibitively high.

They warn that the EU’s ‘coals-to-Newcastle’ import policy will create a rotting European ‘orange mountain’.

Another demonstration will be held on Monday at 19.30 outside Pego town hall.