site.btaGrain Growers Decline to Meet with Prime Minister

The main problem of agricultural processors, who are preparing to protest in the coming days, already has a solution, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said at a news briefing at the Council of Ministers here on Sunday. In his words, the solution is in the agreement between the European Commission and Ukraine. Ukraine has made a commitment to the European Commission to introduce temporary restrictions on agricultural exports to each individual EU member state so as not to flood its market with surplus goods, Denkov said.

Vice President Iliana Iotova commented on the air of BNT Saturday's remarks by Prime Minister Nikolay Dekov on the protests of grain producers regarding lifting the ban on Ukrainian agricultural products. Iotova equated Denkov calling grain producers in Bulgaria "terrorists" to a resignation.

National Grain Producer Association (NGPA) Chair Ilia Prodanov resigned as an adviser to Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev, Prodanov said on the air of Nova TV.The NGPA Chair explained that the decision to take the position of adviser to the minister was a collective one of the association, and the decision for him to resign was also collective. The focus should now be on how many unresolved problems there are in the agriculture sector, said Prodanov.

The Bulgarian Farmers Union (BFU) sent out a position to the media regarding the words of Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, who commented on the planned protests by grain producers in Bulgaria.

The arguments of grain growers protesting against the lifting of the ban on grain imports from Ukraine are completely groundless, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov told journalists on Saturday.