Bulgarian farm producers and processors will block border crossings, main roads and motorways countrywide on Monday, their 24-organization initiative committee said on Friday, listing the locations where the protesters will stop motor vehicle traffic.
The planned blockades include three border crossings with Romania: Kardam and the bridges over the River Danube at Ruse-Giurgiu and Vidin-Calafat, the road from Dragoman to Kalotina (on the border with Serbia), junctions on the Varna - Burgas, Sliven - Yambol, Stara Zagora - Haskovo and Plovdiv - Svilengrad roads, Kresna (on the main road to Greece), and the beginning of the Hemus Motorway at Varna.
On Tuesday, the protests will proceed to Sofia.
The protesters raise five demands to the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the President:
- continuing the ban on the import of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rape and oilseed that was lifted by Parliament on Thursday and banning the import of unrefined cooking oil, fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy products from Ukraine, and tightening control over the origin, quality and safety of farm products imported into Bulgaria;
- payment to agricultural producers, by September 30, of the full amount of compensations for the increased production costs due to the war in Ukraine, scrapping the ceiling on the financial support, and immediate disbursement of the State aid to farmers whose crops have been entirely destroyed by disasters;
- procurement of the financial resources needed to renotify existing State aids and to pay new State aids, including de minimis aid in an increased amount to producers of grapes, potatoes, raspberries, plants grown in greenhouses and tobacco, stockbreeders and bee-keepers;
- relaxation of the conditions for proving eligibility for coupled support under the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan interventions;
- formulation of clear commitments with fixed deadlines for meeting the demands.
The initiative committee said that the protest actions will continue until all demands of the agricultural sector have been met.
/КК/
