The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has stated this Friday that the Executive is working to approve "soon" new measures that allow compensating for the increase in diesel prices, up to the maximum limit authorized by the European Commission.
As he detailed, he coordinates these actions with the First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, and with the Ministry of Finance, in order to respond to the demands of the agricultural professional organizations (OPAs), of which he has said he is "perfectly aware".
These statements come after journalists asked him about the urgent call for protests across the country announced this Friday by Asaja, COAG, and UPA, in response to the "unbearable" rise in fuel costs, which places the countryside in "a critical situation," according to the OPAs themselves.
Planas has recalled that Spain has managed to get the European Commission to authorize until December 31 a maximum cap to compensate, through state aid, up to 70 percent of the increase recorded in agricultural diesel and fishing diesel, a mechanism that the departments of Agriculture, Economy, and Finance are currently working on.
The person in charge of Agriculture has expressed his "utmost respect" for the decisions of the agricultural professional organizations, but has emphasized that the evolution of the price of oil, fertilizers, gas, or ammonia does not depend on the Government, but on international markets, "as in so many things in today's world."
The minister made these statements during his visit this Friday to the modernization works of the Community of Irrigators of the Macías Picavea Canal.