A national air and rail strike is taking place in Italy today and tomorrow.
Today, Easyjet will strike, and from 10:00 to 18:00 local time, Vueling. The protest by ground staff at airports is from 13:00 to 17:00 local time.
All this will cause inconvenience to passengers throughout the day due to flight cancellations, delays in ground operations and serious delays at Milan's airports - “ Linate“ and “Malpensa“, given the 24-hour protest there by airport operators.
The protest was organized by grassroots unions due to non-compliance with contractual relations. The strike in rail transport is 24 hours from 9:00 p.m. local time. The unions' demands are for more safety and security for employees in the sector. The significance of the protest, announced back in December, has increased even more, as a train conductor was stabbed to death a few days ago near Bologna station.
It has become known that on February 16 there will be a 24-hour strike by pilots, cabin crew and ground staff of the national Italian airline ITA.
Farmers in Spain have joined the protests against the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. Tractors blocked several roads in Catalonia and the port of Tarragona.
Catalan farmers stopped traffic on the AP-7 highway to France, causing kilometers of traffic jams. There were also blockades in Tarragona, with one of them closing the road to the city's port. Traffic was also stopped at a little-used border crossing between France and Spain.
Spanish farmers are demanding more favorable European policies for the primary sector in the context of cuts in the upcoming Common Agricultural Policy and the upcoming signing of the free trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur countries, which they say will harm them.
Agricultural associations speak of unfair competition, as South American products will enter with reduced tariffs and do not have as strict local regulations - health, environmental or labor - as those operating in European Union member states. This, farmers say, allows South American products to be cheaper, as their producers can reduce their production costs.
More demonstrations and protests are planned in a number of Spanish provinces in the coming days, including Guadalajara, Zamora, Burgos, Valencia and various places in Catalonia.