Cia-Italian Farmers of Puglia is meeting candidates and political forces in view of the elections that will renew Italian representation in the European Parliament. In the first two days of discussion, which took place at the Hotel Parco dei Principi in Bari, the president of Cia Puglia Gennaro Sicolo and the regional leaders of the organization met candidates from Forza Italia, Action We Are Europeans, United States of Europe, Democratic Party, Brothers of Italy and 5 Star Movement. In the next few days, the cycle of meetings will be completed through discussions with the remaining Italian political forces participating in the elections.
“The policies of the European Community – explains Sicolo – have a strong impact on the local economy, especially with regards to agriculture. This is why we are presenting to the candidates for the EU Parliament the requests of the farmers and the proposals developed by CIA-Italian Farmers to try to reverse the course compared to the policies of recent years which have penalized agriculture, slowing down its development and preventing its concrete relaunch. We ask for respect and attention for farmers who are the first and most important guardians of the environment. The candidates and political forces with whom we spoke agreed on the need to relaunch the sector, making commitments regarding their work as European parliamentarians. The hope is that those commitments will be followed by facts.”
President Sicolo and the regional leaders of Cia Puglia illustrated the priorities and proposals contained in the “Manifesto for the 2024 European Elections: towards a strategic plan for agriculture” to candidates and political forces. In 9 points, the Cia-Agricoltori programmatic platform addresses all the most urgent issues: the value of the products recognized to producers conditioned by strong imbalances along the supply chain; the valorisation and competitiveness of rural areas; measures that prevent land consumption to the detriment of agriculture; the water resource. And, again, the protection of Italian and European products from unfair competition from third countries; the strengthening of the resources that the European budget must allocate to the sector; a CAP agreed from below and no longer an enemy of farmers; the chapter on innovation, research and training; a strong investment in young people as the future of agriculture.
