Now, the challenge of inflation and the complicated international situation have led the country to close 2023 with a drop in the GDP of 0.33% and an average inflation of 5.9%. The Germans have gone into recession. The unrest in the fields has exploded, taking the large cities and the capital as hostages: 5,000 tractors travelled along the streets of Berlin a few weeks ago in protest against the cutbacks in the subsidiaries for agricultural diesel. Spain is no longer the only country that is protesting. Demonstrations are being held in Holland, Germany, France, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.
The triggers vary, but they show a generalised, deep unrest in the countryside. The Green Deal, energy transition, geopolitical changes and the actual economic model itself are unleashing all these protests.
The unease runs very deep. In a context of rising production costs and reducing profit margins, the shortage of supportive measures and incentives to carry out the European agenda have caused the rural world to explode. The sector feels that it is paying for the EU’s foreign policy, the Ukraine war or the trade agreements, which are not being met.
The German malaise will soon affect the entire Euro zone and it will become obvious in the demand for Spanish exports, as Germany is one of Spain’s main markets. There is no doubt about the damage that the European economic motor could inflict on the Spanish economy and on all of ‘old’ Europe and how the readjustment in its internal consumption is already tangible, in a year with European elections in just a few months’ time.
