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Almost 7000 Romanian farmers protested the impact of Ukrainian grain imports on the domestic market
Farmers organised protests on Friday in several countries and in Bucharest, unsatisfied with the solution which the European Commission found to the serious issues and unbalances which the Romanian agri-food sector is confronted with, because of the market distortions caused by the armed conflict in Ukraine.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca had a meeting on Friday, at the Victoria Palace, with Agriculture Minister Petre Daea, whom he asked for urgent measures in support of the Romanian farmers, Spokesman of the Executive Dan Carbunaru mentioned.
"Romania's prime minister requested urgent solutions to the problems which farmers and processors are confronted with, which were also signaled in the discussions carried out on Thursday by the Executive head with representatives of the relevant sector. The main measures should be aimed at a fair relations between producers, agriculture processors and retail chains, but also the facilitation of exports in the agricultural products area, in view of evening out the trade balance," Carbunaru showed.
The grains coming from Ukraine must go on the created transport corridor and not stay in the countries bordering the conflict, the Minister of Agriculture, Petre Daea, said on Friday, after the meeting with the representatives of the farmers who protested in Bucharest.
He stated that the money from the European Commission provided for in the emergency support measures for the cereal and oilseeds sectors should reach the farmers in 29 days from the moment of approval of the Government Decision, which is under approval at the relevant ministries.
He reiterated that on Thursday, after the publication in the Official Journal of the EU of the Regulation that makes it possible to grant the money, the draft normative act was posted on the ministry's website that establishes the way to grant the 10.05 million EUR from the European Commission, amount that will be doubled through the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The minister also spoke about the letter sent to the European Commission, signed by the prime ministers of Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland and the president of Bulgaria, through which it was conveyed that the existing amounts in the Common Agricultural Policy are not sufficient and do not have this purpose of intervention as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, which is why the Commission was "asked" to find additional amounts to be allocated to that support.
It was also required to build the grain transport corridor to the known destination through the World Food Program (WFP), so that they do not remain in neighboring countries, but go where they are needed.
"Secondly, to introduce measures that mean customs restrictions through customs duties and the Commission must analyze this situation and it should be taken into account. Thirdly, to create a very clear monitoring mechanism by which to know at every moment what amount of grain exists on the way to the countries that are in the vicinity of the armed conflict and, obviously, to intervene with automatic support mechanisms, in the conditions where it is known that there is a negative effect on the market in Romania", mentioned Daea.
Chairman of the Save Romania Union (USR) Catalin Drula asks leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu to remove Petre Daea from Agriculture Minister office, taking into account "the resounding failure in the negotiations in Brussels on the compensation granted by the European Commission to Romanian farmers."
"Farmers are protesting across the country. The buffoon from the Agriculture, Petrica, was not capable to negotiate with the European Commission more money for our farmers. Nevertheless, the PSD and the PNL [the National Liberal Party] keep him in office. Thy keep him in office because he responds to the orders of some barons with businesses in agriculture, such as PSD's Secretary General Paul Stanescu. They keep him in office because the only quality of the buffoon is to hire in the Ministry the people requested by the PSD and the PNL. 10.5 million EUR. That's all Petre Daea could negotiate. He went to Brussels with an incomplete file, with wrong data. He thought he went to Romania, just like in the party meetings of the PSD," Catalin Drula stated, according to a USR press release sent on Friday.
Romania obtained 10.5 million EUR from the European Commission, whereas Bulgaria got 16.7 million EURO and Poland, almost 30 million EUR, Drula showed.