Soaring prices spark social anger across the country

Strike by road hauliers, demonstrations by farmers and fishermen, grumbling from the industrial sector… In Spain, record inflation is fueling anger against the left-wing government, in a hurry to act as quickly as possible in the face of soaring oil prices. energy. The two main unions, Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) and UGT, called for strikes and demonstrations across the country on Wednesday as price increases in February reached their highest level in nearly 35 years (7.6% ).

This day of mobilization comes on top of a series of walkouts and demonstrations, which have shaken Spain and its government for ten days. The country has thus been confronted since March 14 with an indefinite strike by truckers, launched by a platform of independent transporters, worried about the boom in fuel prices. This movement, which is accompanied by multiple roadblocks, is seriously disrupting the supply of supermarkets and certain businesses.

Fishermen, herders, farmers angry

The government is also facing a strike by fishermen, who stopped work Monday for three days at the call of a federation of nearly 9,000 boats. Objective here again: to denounce the prices of diesel, which lead fishermen to work at a loss, according to this federation. The anger has also spread to breeders and farmers, hit hard by the rising cost of fertilizers and raw materials. Nearly 150,000 of them thus came to demonstrate on Sunday in the center of Madrid, with fluorescent chasubles reminiscent of the movement of “yellow vests”.

This movement of social discontent – the largest since the coming to power in 2018 of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez – has received the support of opposition parties, and in particular of Vox (extreme right), which organized its own gatherings in several cities in Spain. This ultra-nationalist formation, currently in full swing, is surfing on the discontent of part of the population, particularly in rural areas, accusing the government of “ruining the middle classes” and the “most disadvantaged” people.

A national plan promised by the government

An uncomfortable situation for the executive, which has taken multiple measures in recent months to increase low wages and contain energy prices, but sees its efforts reduced to almost nothing by the inflationary spiral. Anxious to defuse criticism, Pedro Sanchez promised ten days ago a “national plan” on the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, with significant tax cuts. An envelope of 500 million euros has also been put on the table to compensate for the increase in the price of diesel for transporters. Wednesday morning, Pedro Sanchez said he was “convinced” that the government would reach an agreement “this week” with the carriers.

Pedro Sanchez is also seeking a joint EU response to the energy crisis beforehand at Thursday’s summit in Brussels. Madrid has for months been urging the EU to change the mechanism that links electricity prices to the gas market. This call, so far, has remained in vain, but Pedro Sanchez, who has multiplied meetings with his European counterparts since mid-March, hopes for a turnaround.