Updated 5.10pm

Agriculture Minister Anton Refalo has challenged the Opposition to provide evidence that the government voted in favour of EU laws that farmers say are harming them.

“What vote? Look for recordings... the documents are public, there was no such vote. Public records show that what they (PN) are saying is not at all true. We always sought derogations in Malta’s favour,” Refalo said on the fringes of a national protest by farmers on Thursday.

Refalo was speaking at the Valletta waterfront, where he went to meet with farmers who gathered for their second protest in as many weeks.

Farmers say new EU laws and policies are making it impossible for them to make ends meet, when coupled with rises in fertiliser prices.

They cite EU policies to open up European markets to cheaper fruits and vegetables from various non-EU countries as a case in point, arguing that these products do not need to adhere to the high standards the EU binds them to.

Farmers also take issue with various other EU rules, such as one that rewards farmers who opt to keep fields fallow.

Local farmers are not the only ones protesting: farmers all across Europe have taken to the streets in the past months.

In an attempt to curb anger, the European Commission last week scrapped a contentious proposal to tighten pesticide rules. The proposal had already drawn objections from EU member states and been watered down by the European Parliament.

Speaking to Times of Malta just before farmers gathered at their final destination, Refalo insisted that the government stood alongside farmers in their fight.

“I’m happy to see them show solidarity among each other. They are fighting, as we do, for their rights within the EU,” he said.

Refalo – and the Labour government’s – line is that farmers are upset at the EU, not the government. When farmers protested for the first time earlier this month, they were met by Prime Minister Robert Abela, who also emphasised that message.

The Opposition party, however, says that the real culprit is the government, because it backed the EU laws and policies that have aggrieved farmers.

Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech, who also met with farmers during Thursday’s protest, reiterated that point to Times of Malta.

“The European law that farmers are protesting against – though they also have other grievances – is one that the government voted in favour of,” Grech said.

“We had a minister who went to the European Council and voted in favour of a law that hurt farmers. And even if the government could have done nothing to stop this law, it was duty-bound to find ways of helping farmers to ensure their livelihoods are not at stake,” Grech said.

PN MEP candidate Peter Agius has also argued that the government left farmers short-changed with its EU voting, noting that the government had backed both the EU’s nature restoration law and its farm-to-fork strategy. Both of those contain elements which are detrimental to local farmers, he said.

"The government will be represented at a technical level at these sorts of meetings. I'd hope the minister is aware of that," Agius said. 

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who is also a PN candidate, has called on European policymakers to listen to farmers and their concerns, while admitting this dialogue happened "a little bit late". 

Metsola has said that she wants more consideration for the economic and social impact of EU-led climate regulations and for policymakers to make a greater effort to listen to impacted stakeholders such as farmers and businesses. 

That call was endorsed by Malcolm Borg, who leads the farming organisation that led Thursday's protest. 

"Metsola hit the nail on the head," Borg said.