Agriculture Minister Petre Daea defends himself against accusations by Romanian farmers who claim that Romania receives the least amount of money from the European Commission, 10 million euros, in compensation for the damage caused by the invasion of the market of cheap grain from Ukraine. “I always did what was necessary for the country, I always did what was necessary for the farmers,” Daea claimed.

• “Every time I went to Brussels, late at night, after the meeting, my speeches were published on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture in such a way that they were known and interpreted in order to have the necessary documentation. and direct communication with the population regarding the minister’s activities while participating in these working meetings at the level of the Council of Ministers.
• I always did what was necessary for the country, I always did what was necessary for the farmers,” Petre Daea said at a press conference.

He said that his meetings with Janusz Wojciechowski, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, to discuss and negotiate these funds began as early as last September.

• “I went earlier to actually work together with the technical team from Brussels to better support the interests of the country’s farmers.
• On September 26, I had my first meeting with the European Commissioner for Farmers, Janusz Wojciechowski.
• At that meeting we had two important objectives which we discussed, taking advantage of his lordship’s consent to meet. We spent an entire hour discussing two extremely important problems, namely Ukraine. In other words, the impact of the war on Romanian farmers, knowing the measures taken by the country, in an extremely difficult context. It is the right decision that Romania made in accordance with the EU countries, knowing that we are in this relationship, in this political and economic cell with interests and at the same time with obligations,” Daea also stated.

The least amount of money for Romania from the European Commission

The European Commission announced on Monday that it wants to use the crisis reserve to support farmers in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, a reserve worth a total of 56.3 million euros, financed from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reserve, to offset losses caused by increased imports of cereals and oil crops from Ukraine and limiting the impact of market imbalances. The money will go to agricultural producers in the event of a shock from the import of grain from Ukraine.

The European Commission proposed to allocate 29.5 million euros to Poland, 16.75 million euros to Bulgaria, and 10.05 million euros to Romania. At the same time, the European Commission will authorize the three states to double the allocated amounts through state aid.

Therefore, Romania receives less money than Bulgaria and Poland, although this is the main way of transit and storage of grain from Ukraine.

REPER leader Dacian Ciolos appealed to PSD president Marcel Ciolaca to end political support for Petre Daea “for this humiliation caused to Romanian farmers and Romania”.

• “From now on, Marcel Colacu is responsible for this humiliation, because he still keeps in office people who cannot protect the interests of Romanian citizens in the negotiations in Brussels. They will return to the country and say that the EU is bad and does not want to help us. The same lies to hide the incompetence of PSD ministers. The EU is asking us to give us money, and our people do not understand what they should do, this is the painful truth,” Dacian Cholos said, according to a press release from the REPER party.

What Romanian farmers say

Romanian farmers appealed to the European Commission for a real support mechanism for farmers after the transit of grain from Ukraine, considering that the amount of 10 million euros, compensation from the Commission, does not cover the damage caused.

• “After the transit of grain from Ukraine, only 10 million euros were allocated to Romanian farmers as compensation from the European Commission, an amount that in no way covers the damage caused.
• Romanian farmers refuse these ridiculous sums as a sign of protest,” representatives of the Pro Agro National Federation reported.

According to the federation, grain crops from Ukraine that do not meet EU standards, intended only for transit through Romania, “were also exploited on the territory of the country, in addition, they were mixed with grain crops of local production, in accordance with EU standards, which are much more expensive, which caused serious damage to the image of Romanian farmers”.

• “Throughout this period, Romanian farmers understood the exceptional situation created by the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, refrained from publicly criticizing any decision to support Ukrainian farmers, and tried through negotiations and mediation to find a solution together with MADR specialists.
• At this point, after all attempts at negotiations have failed and Minister Daea is heading to Brussels, we categorically tell him to withdraw the €10 million support and ask him not to return without a real support mechanism for farmers,” the representatives claimed. About Agro, a few days ago, Agerpres reported.

According to them, in Bulgaria, the Minister of Agriculture “informed on time about every found low-quality batch”, and in Romania, Petre Daea “claimed that the goods from Ukraine absolutely meet the requirements”.

• “Mr. Minister Daea, please come to terms with this failure and offer the European Commission, especially in light of our openness to farmers in Ukraine, to donate this amount to them as well. We remind you that in the method of calculating compensations for ensuring transit routes of products from Ukraine, Romania provides the largest share – 60%, but from the budget Poland receives 52.4%, Bulgaria – 29.8%, Romania – only 17.9%. So, as an official of the Romanian state, we ask Minister Daea to take responsibility for the entire malfunction and completely eliminate it,” the farmers said.