The answer has always been the same, both from Rome and Cagliari: Europe does not want it, Europe forbids it, Europe does not listen to us. After all, from the fold at the foot of Monte Cardiga, on the border between Armungia and Villasalto, no one will ever be able to knock on the crystal palace of Rue de la Loi, in the heart of Brussels, seat of the European Commissioner for Agriculture . Yet that milk thrown three years ago in the sky of the island, poured on the burnt roads of rural Sardinia, has arrived there, in those buildings described as ice, but, despite everything, attentive as never before to the greed of the agricultural potentates of the north. , that of the delightful Padania, to the detriment of the only true outermost island in Europe, the land of the Nuraghi.
A deaf ear
This time it is not the Brussels offices that are turning a deaf ear, but those “sovereign” state apparatuses that influence the agricultural policies of the beautiful country in favor of the strongest, with the complicity of those who are silent and consent. In the offices in via Venti Settembre, in the street of ministries in the capital of Italy, Agriculture is cross-eyed like never before. And if the revolt, placed for three years under the ashes of the pandemic and the war, has begun to start again there is a reason, loud and clear: the great robbery of European agricultural funds 2023/2027 against Sardinia and Sardinian shepherds . Also this time the Italian and Sardinian institutions have tried to circumnavigate the tensions, taking time to sweeten the suppository, but they have not succeeded. After all, it was they, the Sardinian shepherds, autonomous and without a flag, from the furthest sheepfolds of the island, to study, compare, analyze and discover yet another deception. It was not easy to counter the old adage of foraged Sardinian agropastorizia, supported by public funds, by state and regional gifts.
Strong with the weak
Too easy to shoot in the pile of agro-pastoral companies that do not even have time to breathe, for activities they do not know Saturday and Sunday, which do not have swimming pools where to lay down rich earnings. To understand that pastoralism is the engine and fundamental lever of the development of an island, it can only be understood in the face of a war, when wheat and milk, fodder and basic products for daily life can fail. The agri-food autonomy of an island is not only an ancestral desire , but for the economy of an island community it becomes an essential and indispensable element. It is for this reason that the agricultural "coup" against Sardinia and the Sardinians is an act that goes far beyond the interest of the world of the island's countryside. At stake is the recognition of the existence of a strategic sector that has become a system in Sardinia, despite hardships and discrimination, harassment and abuse.
Feed the rich
No frills are needed to translate the bureaucratic lines of the acts adopted by the Draghi government and the Minister of Agriculture: the new National Strategic Plan is written to feed, even more and incessantly, the rich agricultural north and bury the weak and neglected one of the island . To support it are not the Sardinian Shepherds without a flag, but, coincidentally, the European offices, those of Brussels in person. It was they, without fear of denial, who put pen to paper, with the rigor of reprimand, a very powerful accusation against the plan proposed by Italy. Apertis verbis wrote this in the main chapter of the "European observations on the Italian plan on promoting an intelligent, competitive, resilient and diversified agricultural sector that guarantees long-term food security".
European rejection
The European Commissioner for Agriculture writes: «Italy is invited to review the strategy to ensure a more equitable and targeted distribution of direct payments. The choices for internal convergence and redistribution are limited to the minimum required by Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 (regulation on strategic plans), while the maximum limit and reduction of direct payments are not applied and the maximum value of the rights to help appears relatively high. In combination with coupled payments scattered across many sectors, this raises concern with regard to the effectiveness of the strategy aimed at improving the distribution and targeting of direct payments ”.
Wojtyla Commissioner
It doesn't take long to translate. They say in Europe: in Italy you continue to fill those who already have too much money with money, with the result that the gap with poor and weak areas does not narrow, but widens. Janusz Wojciechowski, the fellow countryman of Karol Wojtyla , who became European Commissioner for EU agriculture, unequivocally expressed the position of Brussels: "Italy is therefore invited to consider a more ambitious strategy in terms of internal convergence and redistribution of direct payments, exploiting the multiple contributions that these instruments would provide to different objectives ». When the young shepherd of Armungia, Fabio Pisu, translates the data of the Roman proposal, it does not take long to understand the devastating impact on Sardinian sheep farming. The leaders of the revolt two years ago, Gianuario Falchi and Nenneddu Sanna, don't think twice about flying to the capital with Antonio Doa and Gianluigi Argiolas. A mission not to protest: with Fabio Pisu they explain strategic plans, translate the division of funding to be allocated to the sector through the European formulas of the “eco-scheme”.
Theft announced
Eight pages of technical, economic and financial evaluations to explain the great robbery that the Italian State was carrying out against the agro-pastoral system of Sardinia. The Draghi government's plan is a lethal blow for the island : the exclusion of the sheep and goat sector will result in a deadweight loss, on this front alone, of 600 million euros over the next five years. There is more, though. The most devastating game is played on the "Agricultural Titles", in practice the sums allocated to compensate for the production and income difficulties for each single agricultural hectare in the different areas of the country.
Scar of the North
This is where the disfigurement turns into deception: the rich regions of the North assign compensation 20 times higher than those of the Sardinian regional average. A snatch that the government inflicts without a shot being fired : "The 2,000 euro securities cannot be reduced by more than 30%, always maintaining a value (at the end of the 2023/2027 programming of 1,400 euro, while the titles of the Sardinian Region will not reach a value of about 132 euros (not even reaching the value of the national average). ”Stefano Patuanelli, Minister of the North, listens to them, nods, undertakes to evaluate and, finally, doesn't care. No answer to the shepherds. L Italy replies to the 40 pages of European observations on the National Strategic Plan, but the allotment-snatching against the island remains as it is. The Region of Sardinia is silent. The Sardinian shepherds do not. There is a sacrosanct principle at stake: cohesion and economic-territorial rebalancing The excuses are over: it is Europe that is asking for an end to the gifts to the rich areas of the country.
