The plenary of the Assembly of Extremadura has rejected a proposal from the PSOE that urged the European Commission, regarding the future Common Agricultural Policy 2028-2034, to promote a European Framework for Access to Agricultural Land and to strengthen the European Observatory of Agricultural Lands as a transparency instrument for member states.
The initiative, which has only received support from the PSOE and Unidas por Extremadura and has been rejected by PP and Vox, also included that the recovery of abandoned agricultural lands be considered a priority in European rural development policies, in addition to reviewing and strengthening specific European financial instruments to favor access to land for young and new farmers.
Likewise, the socialist text proposed enabling mechanisms that facilitate the arrival of young and new farmers to publicly owned lands, and integrating access to agricultural land into future recommendations that the European Commission directs to member states.
Arguments of the PSOE
In defense of the proposal, PSOE deputy Manuel Mejías emphasized the relevance of recovering abandoned lands as a way for youth to join the agricultural sector, and called for measures that allow "to be able to live off the land."
He framed this request in the need to address the "real problems" of the Extremaduran countryside, citing among them the costs of fertilizers, diesel, electricity, labor, and the prices that farmers receive for their products.
In this context, Mejías insisted that, in light of the new CAP, "Extremadura has to be at the table where the future" of the countryside is decided, and criticized that the Junta delegates to other autonomous communities, as has recently happened with a meeting, something he described as "a shame that Extremaduran farmers have had to suffer." At the same time, he accused María Guardiola's Executive of "abandoning the Extremaduran countryside."
Position of PP and Vox
On behalf of the PP, deputy Bibiano Serrano rejected the PSOE initiative, considering it "absolutely communist."
"How are we going to give the lands to the young people? Do we expropriate them? Does the administration buy the land?" he posed, concluding that it is a proposal that "makes no sense."
Furthermore, he has defended that the content of the initiative should be directed to the central Government. "Whoever sits on the Commission to negotiate these things is the Government of Spain," he pointed out, adding that "The European Union here sends money but the rules come from the ministry."
The Vox deputy Marta Garrido Moreno, for her part, has attacked the "demagoguery" of the PSOE regarding unused agricultural lands, presenting a proposal "without figures, arguments or solutions," whose objective, in her opinion, would be "to create more chiringuitos and useless commissions to find positions for their colleagues."
She has also reproached that the PSOE, with its decisions and votes in Brussels, "has ruined Extremaduran, Spanish, and European farmers and ranchers."
"You have been marking in Brussels for decades, and now you come to this regional Chamber with a pamphlet about generational change and new farmers, when it is all of you who, with your vote in Brussels, have ruined Extremaduran, Spanish, and European farmers and ranchers, burdening them with bureaucracy and imposing climate policies on them," she emphasized.
Support from Unidas por Extremadura and tension in the plenary
The spokesperson for Unidas por Extremadura, Irene de Miguel, has warned about the "pressure" that investment funds and large multinationals exert on fertile lands and water resources. "We are leaving our food security and sovereignty in the hands of large corporations," she alerted.
In this line, she has denounced the growing concentration of land ownership in Extremadura "in fewer and fewer hands" and has defended that the land should be "for those who work it" as a guarantee for the future of the rural environment.
During the debate, the president of the Assembly, Manuel Naharro, decided to decree a 10-minute recess after unsuccessfully asking for silence from the deputies while the 'popular' Bibiano Serrano was speaking at the podium.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am no longer in a hurry, I was before. If you want us to stay half an hour longer, then continue down this path, if not, we continue the plenary," Naharro stated moments before ordering the pause.