We must sow democracy in fields. José Manuel de las Heras, Unión de Uniones

In February 2012, Miguel Arias Canete, recently assumed the portfolio of Agriculture, announced on the floor of Congress of Deputies its commitment to prepare a law to “promote and develop an electoral process, state-wide, to enable the establishment of representativeness Agricultural Professionals in the processes of government system organizations.”

Were more than enough reasons to renovate an inherited land representation of obsolete mechanisms and a clear democratic deficit. In 6 of the 17 regions have elections ever held in the country; and other 8 are consultations have already at least 12 years old. Only three provinces in Catalonia, Castilla y León and Madrid, the farmers have been able to vote for our representatives, at regional level, and the truth is that the landscape of agricultural organizations colored by the polls are quite a distance from the table shown in tables of the Ministry of Agriculture, when citing the apparent field representatives.

The development of the law announced by Arias Cañete was controversial. Ironically his biggest detractors were the three agricultural organizations accommodated in the Agricultural Advisory Council of the Ministry whose representative would be confirmed or denied by the call for elections. They put many excuses: that the census was not right, that consultation did not offer guarantees that if the procedure was unwise…

Only the Union of Unions received as good news for farmers who could, at last, with their votes appoint the Advisory Board of the Ministry and sit at the negotiating table who deem that they could better defend their professional interests.

Is the process designed suffered from imperfections? Yes, certainly. We have never been so naive as to think that Arias Cañete was the victim of an attack by political altruism when he thought of calling elections. And surely the imperfections of the process were the result of the then Minister had the lead horse won by ASAJA, the association ideologically closer to the Popular Party and integrated in CEOE Employers. But it was absolutely unacceptable, and is to continue juggling democracy sector.

After the departure of former Minister for Energy and Environment Commissioner EU bogged down in parliamentary procedure the Bill, a Minister of the Department, Isabel García Tejerina, and three agricultural organizations with no interest in risking the comfort of being considered accredit representative without using the “upset” the process of being chosen for this.

Possibly so, in a dribble of late, the Government urged the Popular Parliamentary Group to amend its own law to boycott the process. How? Simple: by relying call for consultation of the publication of a regulation and is made or approved.

Meanwhile institutional representation remains in the Agricultural Advisory Council of the former Act, repealed by useless to measure representativeness. By Kafkaesque enough, it is what has been done, and now after 14 months from the entry into force of the Act, the regulations or is, or will be waiting.

And these are. With farmers and livestock keepers to vote and allegedly represented by a tripartite dialogue and joint statewide recognized by a Ministry that “greasy” with abundant public funds through grants and that also authorizes, to raise millions of euros producers through so-called “standard extensions” of sectoral interbranch organizations.

Settled himself in this kind of status quo is a temptation that may fall because in the absence of elections “domestic organizations” have no need to justify to those who can not choose, farmers and ranchers, but to whom they sit at the table and it allows them to nourish economically. It is, in my view, a serious defect of the system.

A vice that not only covers the scope of the Ministry of Agriculture, but extends unfairly, by irradiation and by way of the facts, the scope of bargaining Field State Convention, the representative activities to other ministries, the representation in the autonomous communities who do not celebrate agricultural elections which as I said are the majority and even to the European Union.

The Union of Unions, and other legally constituted and representative organizations in their areas, plus of course the farmers suffer daily from this “agrarian corralito”.

Our organization has claimed, and claims with insistence that elections in the country.

We have done so in meetings with ministry officials whenever we had the opportunity; in the media; with the parliamentary groups in Parliament … Up to the Ombudsman have come to understand that the current situation infringes the fundamental right of farmers citizens to participate in government action through their representatives.

Our insistence is not because the Union of Unions of Farmers and Ranchers presumed to have guaranteed win an election if held. We believe in the right of our organization, or any other you get back in the polls, to sit at the tables of representativeness. We believe in the obligation of public authorities to dialogue with the legitimate representatives of the citizens, not the taste or the politician in office with more accommodating with the decisions of the ruler. And we believe, above all, the right of farmers to choose.

We call elections hygiene system itself. It is healthy that agricultural organizations committed Middlesbrough, the newspaper vote, to deserve and earn the trust of those, whom we say, represent and make use of it with professionalism and honesty.

Current government has squandered its credibility in this matter and will not call as promised, elections in the legislature; but it could still be a gesture of fidelity to oneself and respect for farmers adopting at least the Regulations of the Act and thus leave clear the electoral process for the next term. This is now closed, politically very busy, they have removed many corporate foundations that seemed immovable. However, the Ministry of Agriculture and some agricultural organizations have resisted such changes in the social and representative and are stealing the farmers the right to choose who represents them freely secret and direct. It is time for that to change and move from “I recognize the power then I am” to “I vote farmers therefore I am”.

Jose Manuel de las Heras, coordinator Union of Unions. Spain