Anger of farmers: Spanish highways stormed by demonstrators

The highways are blocked. EFE – Mariam A. Montesinos

Spanish farmers blocked traffic on some of the country's main highways on Tuesday, joining their colleagues from other European countries protesting against high costs, administrative standards and competition from non-member countries. ;#39;European Union.

"With different nuances, throughout the European Union we have the same problems", Donaciano Dujo, vice-president of ASAJA, one of the largest farmers' associations in Spain, told national television channel TVE.

L'ASAJA and other associations had called for demonstrations from Thursday, but many farmers took to the road with their tractors on Tuesday, causing traffic jams throughout the country, from Seville in the south to Girona, near the French border, according to traffic authorities.

"The countryside has had enough"

"The campaign has had enough", said Inti Dujo. In Girona, tractors gathered ahead of the day of protests, carrying signs reading the slogan "without farmers, there is no food&quot ;.

Like their French, Belgian, Italian and Portuguese colleagues, Spanish farmers complain about the increasing weight of European standards, the low prices of products and ;increased costs.

They say demanding rules imposed on EU farmers to protect the environment make them less competitive than their counterparts in other regions, such as the EU. #39;Latin America or Europe outside the EU.