NEOS mandate Gerald Loacker mocks our farmers with insults (“stupid tenderloin”) over their concerns about the free trade pact.
“Let them exchange their cows and goats with each other. “That’s provincial thinking, and all because of a stupid beef tenderloin,” the NEOS politician stormed into the plenary session of parliament, shaking with anger and insulting an entire professional group.
The disturbing recording of the scandal also shows his party leader, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, smiling and amused. “The fact that she finds the disparagement of our farmers’ services and their high-quality food funny adds to the scandal and is actually a true eco-scandal,” complain Paul Nemecek, the boss of the Lower Austrian Farmers’ Association, and the turquoise EU representative Alex Bernhuber. , himself a livestock farmer.
Boerenbond wants an apology
Indeed, Loacker dismisses the legitimate concerns of opponents of the devastating free trade deal with Brazil as “small-scale and provincial thinking” that he has never experienced even in the back valley of his home state of Vorarlberg. Nemecek adds: “The pink politician has probably forgotten that there, just like in the whole of Austria, mountain and organic farmers are fighting for their existence. On behalf of tens of thousands of farmers, I demand an immediate apology!”
Greenpeace boss Alexander Egit is also indignant: “Mercosur plans, among other things, to increase the EU import quota for the cheapest beef to a maximum of 300,000 tons per year. If this is not a threat to the survival of European farmers, what is?”
Massive protests
Agricultural eco-alert also at EU level! Massive protests in recent months have led institutions to backtrack on environmental, social and ecological measures. “Key initiatives and legislative proposals were watered down, destroyed or never came into effect,” complains GLOBAL 2000 expert Birgit Reisenberger. The counter model that has been cleverly devised with our organic farmers: completely environmentally friendly, regional value-adding agriculture!
Credo of the alliance, which is also joined by the Chamber of Labor and the trade union: “We must move away from the current boring land subsidies that only benefit large companies.”
Neoliberal trade agreements in sight
Instead, ecological efforts should be rewarded and the valuable services of organic farming should be fairly compensated. Otherwise, they say, dozens of farms will have to close. Together, the fighters for a turnaround in Brussels agricultural policy are also focusing on neoliberal trade agreements (Mercosur, etc.).
Clear opinion about digitalization: concentration of power in the agricultural sector, stop ‘data grabbing’. Because every tractor in the world is ‘followed’ in the fields by built-in satellite receivers.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
