Balearics facing a winter of discontent over fuel prices

The fuel blockade may well be being eased in the UK, but farmers in the Balearics have taken a leaf out of their French and British colleagues' books and yesterday the secretary general of the Majorcan Farmers Union, Jaume Pocoví, called on the Balearic government to bring an end to the fuel supply monopoly in the Balearics, where the price of fuel is one of the highest in Spain in order to cut the price of fuel. Pocovi also announced that next week, Majorca will witness a series of protests against the high price of fuel, but he warned that the demonstrations “will be just a taster” of what is to come this Autumn, which he said will be tense, suggesting that the Balearics could be heading for a winter of discontent. Balearic farmers have also been spurred on by colleagues on the mainland who yesterday, in association with transport workers, mounted protests and blockades to demand lower fuel taxes, joining a wave of protests that has spread across Europe. Jose Manuel de las Heras, head of farmers' organisation COAG, told reporters that if talks with the government failed, demonstrations in Spain would make protests in other European countries look like «child's play». Talks will continue on Monday. The Spanish government has refused to reduce fuel taxes with crude oil prices near 10-year highs, forcing protesters to take their anger to the streets. The Coalition of Fuel Consumers, a group of 12 farming and transport organisations, plans to converge on the southwestern city of Merida on Friday with an expected caravan of 500 trucks and tractors.