Farmers and fishermen protest in Palermo: march from Marina square

Last Updated: March 19, 2024

The spontaneous united committees of farmers, breeders, and fishermen from Sicily will hold a demonstration tomorrow, starting at 10 am, with a procession that will wind from Piazza Marina to Piazza Indipendenza in Palermo. “We are in a state of deep economic crisis and we are demonstrating – says Cruciano Mesi, from the spontaneous committee of the lower Madonie and the Valle del Torto – in order to claim from the national and regional governments what is useful for our survival and the revival of an entire sector. Although we have appreciated what the regional government has been doing in recent weeks with the commissioner structure set up, starting from the structural interventions for the strengthening of water networks and the use of dams for irrigating the land, we ask – Mesi continues – for the establishment of a regional guarantee fund for the agricultural companies that suffer from payment delays.” “To the national government – continues Mesi – we ask for the intensification of controls on products imported from non-European countries, with the adjustment of the sanctioning regime and the creation of fixed premises of the Nas in all Italian ports with their analysis laboratories, the expansion of information for the consumer on the origin and sanitary requirements of food products indicating any residues of harmful substances even if within the legal limits and the modification of EU regulation 2023/915 concerning the reduction of maximum levels of certain contaminants in food. On the fishing front, we ask for a 35% tax credit on diesel, payments of mandatory fishing stops in certain and fast times, the recognition of an economic compensation for the period of mandatory fishing stop provided for the “trawling” fishing system beyond additional days, and the recognition of the fisherman’s profession as a strenuous job with the consequent request to shorten the minimum age for retirement.”