Italian farmers stage convoy in Rome against agriculture support cuts

By Baris Seckin

ROME (AA) - Farmers in Italy have staged a convoy on the ring road of the capital Rome to protest the cutting of support for the agriculture sector, including the agricultural policies of the EU.

Farmers, protesting across the country since last week, brought their symbolic convoys to the city center on Friday, while their large convoys with tractors were conducted during the night hours.

In the convoy, which saw the participation of around 200 tractors, farmers added another protest to the ones they had been carrying out for days.

Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida went to the Nomentana entrance of Rome, where farmers had set up camp with their vehicles, and met with them once again.

Representatives of farmers had also agreed with the police Friday morning to conduct a symbolic protest convoy in the city center with four tractors.

- Gov't meets with representatives from agriculture sector

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Agriculture Minister Lollobrigida met with representatives from the agriculture sector, including farmers, at the prime minister's office.

According to reports in the Italian press, the government promised to provide some facilitations to farmers, including tax exemptions on agricultural income up to a certain amount.

It was noted that Meloni reminded representatives of the agriculture sector that her government had always defended farmers in Europe and opposed the "wrong choices" of the European Commission from the beginning.

Meloni, in a statement following the EU Leaders Summit in Brussels on Feb. 1, had expressed that mistakes had been made in EU's agricultural policies and they needed to be changed.

Farmers in many EU countries, including Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Italy, and Hungary, have been staging tractor protests against recent agricultural policies.

Farmers in the EU heavily criticize the bloc's agricultural policies, nature restoration goals, support cuts, high energy, fuel, and fertilizer costs resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as cheap grain products from Ukraine, and water-saving measures.

* Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul