site.btaCommissioner Wojciechowski Says Bulgaria's Use of Agriculture Funding Is EU's Second Most Efficient

In a video address to AGRI SUMMIT 2024, European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said that responding to the challenges in the sector, the European Commission activated support from the crisis reserve but also added the option of transitional national aid. Thanks to this, in 2022 and 2023 farmers from 22 EU Member States received EUR 9.3 billion in State aid, including EUR 452 million in Bulgaria, which is 8.2% of the value of its agricultural output. This ranks Bulgaria second in the EU in terms of efficient use of funds. The forum in Sofia is organized by Forbes Bulgaria and Agri.bg.

Wojciechowski stressed that these are unprecedented times when agriculture and the rural regions are faced with various difficulties - the war in Ukraine, climate change, high costs and the burden of new legislation.

Regarding agricultural imports from Ukraine, Wojciechowski said that in 2021 just 16% of them went to European markets, whereas now the EU is Ukraine's main export destination. In 2022, those imports almost doubled, from EUR 7 billion to EUR 13 billion, and in 2023, they exceeded EUR 12 billion. The Commission remains committed to supporting Ukraine in these difficult times while taking into account EU sensitivities, the Polish Commissioner said.

Bulgarian Agriculture and Food Minister Kiril Vatev said: "We can see what is happening across Europe. The reactions of farmers across Europe are raising many questions about the new programming period of the Common Agricultural Policy, dialogue on which has started, because one of the biggest problems for all farmers is that the EU's ambitious environmental agenda has not offered them an alternative to all the mineral fertilizers and plant protection products on which the EU has set limits."

Vatev said this has led to lower yields and higher costs and has made farmers less competitive with third-country imports in the market; climate change further complicates the situation.