Coldiretti – increasingly distant from the farmers, breeders, shepherds and fishermen who have been protesting against its system of power for three months (1,2) – organizes a parade at the Brenner Pass with almost subversive ambitions, announcing its intention to carry out checks on goods entering the National territory.
The government and the competent ministries do not react to the bravado of Palazzo Rospigliosi, overestimating Coldiretti’s actual representativeness and ability to influence the elections. In the meantime, distrusted by those who work the land, she takes legal action against the writer. #CleanSpades.
1) Farmers’ crisis, ‘a micro-problem’
Vincenzo Gesmundo – the same one who on 7 February 2024 characterized the crisis in Italian agriculture as ‘a micro-problem‘ and said ‘hooliganism‘ farmers protesting for a decent income (3) – ordered his generals (directors) to ‘reunite with as many members as possible‘. It is enough to tighten the chain that ties them to the CAA Coldiretti around their necks to receive European contributions, to force them into the enclosure.
Coldiretti’s magic circle has thus resumed organizing the parades of its loyalists (perhaps more employees than members), in Brussels, on 26 February 2024. At a safe distance from those who really claim the rights of family and peasant farms – such as Confédération paysanne, FUGEA and the other associations gathered under the European Coordination of La Via Campesina – which had already begun to demonstrate in earnest a month earlier (4,5).
2) Brussels-Brenner, the Minions’ parades
Italian farmers protesting in Brussels under water cannons and tear gas they renamed ‘Minions’ – due to the yellow color of their jackets and flags – the exponents of Coldiretti who at the same time were holding a parade inside the area protected by the police. The president of Coldiretti Ettore Prandini and the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida were meanwhile received by the European Commissioner for Agriculture. (6)
The Minions parade it is now repeated at Brenner where Coldiretti announces a ‘match’ away matchthousands of farmers from all regions‘, on 8 and 9 April 2024. The objective of the trip, as stated in the press release taken as is by the uncritical press, is ‘stop the invasion of foreign food products passed off as Italian which put the health of citizens and the future of Italian agri-food at risk‘. (7)
3) Coldiretti, subversive ambitions?
The press release of Palazzo Rospigliosi, in announcing the Minions parade at Brenner, continues by warning that ‘Coldiretti farmers, led by president Ettore Prandini, will check the contents of trucks, refrigerated trucks and tankers with the crucial collaboration of the police‘. (7)
The boss of bosses’ Vincenzo Gesmundo, moreover, had already explained to his generals (directors) that Coldiretti has theability to act on the boundaries of other sovereignties. And as such we have the right/duty to replace the institutions themselves when they fail, because this is what people expect from us’. (8)
The Italian state however, has not delegated any official control function on agricultural and food products to Coldiretti, Ettore Prandini or Vincenzo Gesmundo or their members, which must be carried out in faithful compliance with a European regulation which precisely establishes the criteria and the modalities. (9)
3.1) Official public controls, competent authorities
Official public controls on agricultural and food commodities in Italy are entrusted exclusively to the authorities coordinated by the following ministries:
– Health. Maritime, air and border health offices, veterinary offices for community obligations, border control posts, control points, regional phytosanitary services, food hygiene and nutrition services, veterinary services, NAS Command (Anti-Advertising Unit) for the Health Protection
– Agriculture. Central Inspectorate for Quality Protection and Fraud Repression (ICQRF), in addition to the Carabinieri Command for Agri-Food Protection and Forestry and Parks Protection, within which the Agri-Food Protection Department (RAC) operates
– Finances. Customs and Monopolies Agency, responsible for all controls to ensure the correct application of the legislation governing the entry, transit, transfer and final use of goods in circulation. Therefore it is also equipped with a specific customs anti-fraud surveillance service.
– Defence. Military veterinarians, under the coordination of the Ministry of Health, carry out official checks in military facilities, including those connected to the activities of contingents of the armed forces employed in international missions. (10)
3.2) Brenner, risk of abuse
The entry of goods on the national territory – following official controls and clearance from the competent authorities, as well as the completion of customs formalities in view of release for free circulation – falls under the exclusive responsibility of the aforementioned bodies of the State, the Regions and the autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano. Who reject non-compliant goods, ordering their return to the sender or destruction, depending on the case.
Ettore Prandini and the Minions can therefore organize their trip to Brenner and wave their yellow flags, to mask Coldiretti’s failures in indicating the origin of raw materials on the labels of food products and its full support for the politicians who have approved a series of free trade with third countries (11,12). However, they cannot interfere with the activities of the police force nor inspect the contents of trucks, refrigerated trucks and tankers. (13)
4) Coldiretti, which representation?
The Italian governments who succeed one another always respond to the orders of Vincenzo Gesmundo, as he exactly claims. Reaching its peak in the government led by Giorgia Meloni who appointed former managers of Palazzo Rospigliosi as national manager of the agricultural policies of Fratelli d’Italia and head of the cabinet of the Ministry of Agriculture, as we have seen (14,15).
Coldiretti however – as can be seen from the data of the General Agency for Agricultural Payments (AGEA) – actually represents only 340 thousand agricultural companies, i.e. approximately 35% of those registered by the Chambers of Commerce. Confagricoltura (which surpasses Coldiretti in the management of employee delegations), CIA, Copagri and other acronyms maintain their position in the Centre-South above all, with absolute dominance in Puglia and Sicily. And it’s time for them to come out of their buildings to be heard.
The illicit reform of the CAA ‘tailor-made’ by Coldiretti’s Green Enterprise therefore has the precise aim of eliminating competition from freelancers and other organizations in the provision of agricultural services, so as to force tens of thousands of farmers into the Palazzo Rospigliosi chain. In clear contrast, as we have seen, with the Italian Constitution and the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union. (15)
5) Twilight
Paolo Bonomi’s Coldiretti, financed by the United States to counter the spread of socialist ideas in rural areas, at least expressed ‘the political will to pursue a model of agriculture based on the rural family, understood as a unit of moral, religious and economic life‘. The ‘direct farmers’ were forged with a tight propaganda that united them in a mass party to give votes and collect benefits for the entire associative base. (16)
The catastrophic collapse of Federconsorzi – emblem of corruption between the politicians of the First Republic and the agricultural confederations – led to a reorganization worthy of attention. Vincenzo Gesmundo (former president of the Federconsorzi board of auditors, investigated and never tried for the statute of limitations of the crimes) brought Coldiretti into the second Republic and managed to maintain a political power which today, however, as will be seen, is devoid of any substance.
6) Democratic revolution
Internet and social networks have filled the information asymmetry on which power is based (Stiglitz). Farmers today draw on independent news, share experiences and realize that Coldiretti’s magic circle has sold Italian agriculture to finance (12,17), in an orgy of conflicts of interest that drains their resources to the advantage of own managers with salaries and assignments in the millions. (2)
Above all, farmers decide with their own heads who to vote for. Politicians still believe that farmers take orders from the association, like in the days of Paolo Bonomi and black and white TV. But Coldiretti hasn’t moved a vote for at least twenty years, and the flop of the Referenzium loudly supported by Vincenzo Gesmundo is proof of this. (18)
Precisely therefore Coldiretti sides with the winner from time to time, and precisely for this reason it is time to change the policy.
7) Judicial actions
Complaints are pouring in and subpoenas against the writer for hypothetical defamation in the press:
– the latest complaint (after about ten previous ones, by various members of the magic circle of Coldiretti and politicians at their service, partly archived and partly awaiting trial) dates back to before Easter,
– the last four notifications of claims for damages for ‘indeterminable value‘ (in addition to others) were notified by the lawyers of Coldiretti National Federation, within half an hour, on 4 April 2024.
The straw tails are destined to burn, #VanghePulite proceeds unstoppable.
Post scriptum
Dario Dongo – who thinks with his own head and does not represent or receive help from anyone – expresses his gratitude right now to those who want to express a revolutionary vote in his favor, in the secrecy of the ballot box, in the European elections of 6-9 June 2024. Movement # PaceTerraDignità, North-East College.
The hope is to consistently carry forward, even in the halls of the European Parliament, the political program already amply motivated and illustrated in many years of struggle. Without compromise, for everyone’s rights.
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Dario Dongo. Italy, farmers protest against Coldiretti. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 26.1.24
(2) Dario Dongo. Farmers in protest, the viral deception of Coldiretti & Co. #VanghePulite. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 5.2.24
(3) Dario Dongo. Farmers’ protest, the letter from the big boss of Coldiretti. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 29.1.24
(4) Dario Dongo. Confédération paysanne and LiberiAgricoltori, the reasons for the protest. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 29.1.24
(5) Dario Dongo. Farmers, the protest reaches Belgium. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 30.1.24
(6) Tractors invade Brussels (again): fires, firecrackers and manure against the police. The paper. 26.2.24 https://tinyurl.com/4fh7tdhu
(7) Attack on Made in Italy, thousands of farmers at Brenner from 8 April. Coldiretti. 4.4.24 https://tinyurl.com/2ap3nmbz
(8) See the paragraph ‘A tragic reality?’, in the previous article by Dario Dongo. Public administration, loyalty to the state or to Coldiretti? #Clean shovels. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(9) Dario Dongo, Giulia Torre. Official public controls, EU regulation 2017/625 is underway. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 18.12.19
(10) Dario Dongo, Amaranta Traversa, Sarah Lanzilli, Claudio Biglia. Official controls, Legislative Decree 27/21. Implementation of the regulation EU 2017/625. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 14.3.21
(11) Dario Dongo. Origin of raw materials on the label, the unsolved problem. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10.3.24
(12) Dario Dongo. The tentacles of finance on food sovereignty and our food. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 31.3.24
(13) Dario Dongo. Coldiretti, Lollobrigida and Fratelli d’Italia, deep ties and #falseflag. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10.2.24
(14) Dario Dongo. Revolving doors in agriculture, a question. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 14.2.24
(15) Dario Dongo. Italy, green light for the CAA monopoly on EU aid in agriculture. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 12.2.24
(16) Alfonso Pascale. At the origin of the weakness of Italian agriculture. Oliofficina. 19.12.17 https://tinyurl.com/2h24wmbz
(17) Dario Dongo. Land robbery, ‘agri-solar parks’ and wind turbines. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 3.4.24
(18) See note 8 to the previous article by Dario Dongo. AGEA – Coldiretti, the European Commission rejects the conflict of interest. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 24.3.21
(19) Dario Dongo. Freedom of the press, Anti-SLAPP directive approved. Egalité. 10.3.24
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
