After more than a week of debates, evaluations and collective construction, the VII Conference of La Via Campesina concluded this weekend. The event, which brought together about 450 farmers and peasant delegates from La Via’s various member organizations, included the participation of about 50 delegates from all over Europe who, in addition to renewing their international struggles for Food Sovereignty together with peasant farmers from different regions of the planet, also reiterated their struggle here in Europe in defense of peasant agriculture.
Derio, Euskal Herria, 24 July 2017
To this end, throughout this conference in Derio, Euskal Herria, ECVC’s delegates denounced the ruin inflicted by the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to Europe and other parts of the world, destroying prices for production outside and within Europe as part of the war waged for the conquest of markets.
“Neither in Europe nor in the world, can we accept that the work we invest in producing food not be valued with fair prices. We reject the agreements of the WTO (World Trade Organization) and FTA (Free Trade Agreements) and we demand that agriculture and food be taken out from free trade agreements and the WTO “, reiterated the delegation of ECVC.
In this sense, the need for stronger public and agricultural policies that regulate the market was emphasized, policies that control the limitless production and size of farms. ECVC demanded that speculative investments in agricultural production be forbidden in Europe. Agricultural policies and public policies must guarantee the right to a healthy diet for the entire population, along with the incorporation of a greater number of peasants.
Likewise, in the final event on Sunday in the Plaza Nueva de Bilbao, Andoni Garcia of ECVC demanded an agrarian policy and public policies that recognize the work of peasant women eliminating the discrimination generated by the current norms in force. “We demand an agrarian policy and public policies with measures aimed at the inclusion of young people, which are not a slogan, or in models of production that are outdated and rejected by society as a whole, but rather in peasant models of agriculture, in processes based on agroecology. “
“From ECVC, we express our commitment to our colleagues and fellow-peasants from all over the world present at the 7th Conference, to change the wrong path taken by the EU, represented by governments and institutions, to change the neoliberal policies that the EU presents to the world which are destructive and inhuman. We also reiterate our commitment to the struggles of our comrades throughout the world for peasants’ rights, the rights of the People and to jointly build peoples’ food sovereignty.”
Read here La Via Campesina’s VII Conference press release as well as the Final Declaration.
Contacts:
- Geneviève Savigny: (Coordination Committee ECVC) : + 330625551687 FR-EN
- Jose-Miguel Pacheco: (Coordination Committee ECVC) : +35 19 1873 6441 PT-ES
- Andoni Garcia: (Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Agricultores y Ganaderos- ECVC) : +34 63 645 1569
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