Transporters and farmers entered a fourth day of protests, and the government scheduled meetings with them in three ministries and the ASF for Saturday, after discussions on Friday, including with Prime Minister Çolaku, failed to produce concrete results. The vehicles brought by the protesters continue to cause traffic problems on the outskirts of Bucharest.

“Continuing the dialogue with transporters and farmers who are protesting in the capital belt and in the country, the Romanian government sent representatives of transporters and farmers a calendar of discussions with ministers and representatives of some state institutions, with whom it asked to discuss claims in each area separately,” reports Victoria Palace.

Scheduled meetings for Saturday:

• 12.00 – Ministry of Agrarian Policy
• 13.00 – Ministry of Transport
• 14.00 – Financial supervision
• 15.00 – Ministry of Finance

“In this way, the government proves its readiness to find concrete solutions in the case of legitimate problems raised by transporters and farmers,” the press release of the executive power states.

“We’re not here to wreak havoc, we just want to be heard”

“We are not affiliated with any political party, we are independent people, protesters, we are people who have reached the limit of patience,” said one of the representatives of the protesters, Digi24 reports.

Protesters also accused the gendarmerie on Saturday of allowing provocateurs to infiltrate them.

“We didn’t block anything at all, we didn’t come to make a disaster in Bucharest, we just want to be listened to. But the gendarmerie allowed them to enter, they allowed protesters with the Romanian flag, with the coat of arms cut out, to patrol with the gendarmerie, they allowed people from associations and parties to enter them, they allowed people from provocative gallery sports. After we, farmers and transporters, went to the cars, these people stood for another hour, or even two, made a mess on the street, and no one interfered. The gendarmerie is not doing its job,” said one representative of the protesters on Saturday.

They met with Cholaku, but the protests continue

Prime Minister Marcel Cholaku held consultations with representatives of transporters and farmers on Friday at the Victoria Palace, during which the problems reported by representatives of the two sectors of activity were analyzed.

The protest leaders presented the government with a list of 40 demands. Discussions with the prime minister did not convince them, and they announced the continuation of the protests.

Cholaku says a tight schedule of punctual meetings has been set with ministries and agencies that have the authority to address some of the issues discussed during the meeting:

• On Monday, January 15, the meeting of the first working group on agriculture will be held, in which representatives of relevant ministries will also take part.
• On Tuesday, January 16, a meeting on transport issues will also be held with the participation of representatives of relevant ministries.
• On Wednesday, January 17, a working group on the issue of auto civil liability insurance will be held.

Prefect: Their grievances cannot be settled overnight

The claims of transporters and farmers are complex, they cannot be resolved from one day to the next, said the prefect of the capital, Raresh Gopinke.

“I entered the framework of the dialogue (…), there are 22 points, but each point has several sub-points. These claims were presented to the Prime Minister of Romania, a work program was created to analyze and resolve them, but we must understand the following – these are complex requests.

These are not measures that can be solved from one day to the next, because they belong to the competence and responsibility of several state institutions,” Rares Hopincha said on Romanian television on Friday.

There are some “systemic problems” that have been brewing for decades, he added.