Tag: spain

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Distribution of direct payments: the peculiar case of the Spanish model

We are pleased to welcome this post which has been written by Jabier Ruiz, who is Senior Policy Officer, Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems at the European Policy Office of WWF in Brussels.

Internal convergence: a multi-faceted obligation

In recent reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy, and of the Multiannual Financial Framework, the (external) convergence of decoupled direct payments across EU member states is always a very sensitive political topic. This issue has been covered extensively in this blog (for example, here and here). There is much less awareness and discussion on the topic of internal convergence, another obligation existing in the current (and future) CAP and which aims to progressively equalise the value of decoupled direct payment entitlements (€ per hectare) within each Member State or region.

The debate on external convergence is largely motivated by the concerns of the newer Member States. Internal convergence is an issue for the older Member States (plus Slovenia and Malta) that apply the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) with entitlements rather than the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS) under which all payments are anyway on a flat-rate basis per eligible hectare.… Read the rest

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Cross compliance for labour laws?

The Global Mail reports on a shocking case of alleged abuses of migrant workers in the Spanish horticulture industry, concentrated in the southern Spanish region of Almería along a 200km strip of hothouses known as el mar de plásticos. This is where much of Europe’s salad vegetable crop is grown.

Allegations range from payment below the minimum wage, employment of illegal migrants, intimidation and, in the most recent case, murder. The UK’s Guardian newspaper’s special correspondent Felicity Lawrence wrote a startling report into labour abuses in €2 billion a year hothouse industry. She found:

Migrant workers from Africa living in shacks made of old boxes and plastic sheeting, without sanitation or access to drinking water.

Wages that are routinely less than half the legal minimum wage.

Workers without papers being told they will be reported to the police if they complain.

Allegations of segregation enforced by police harassment when African workers stray outside the hothouse areas into tourist areas.

… Read the rest