site.btaFarmers to Protest in Sofia on Tuesday

On February 13, farmers from all over the country will hold a protest in front of the building of the Council of Ministers in the centre of Sofia, as well as in 21 other places in the country, the Association of Agricultural Producers said in a press release.

Protesters are expected to block key road links, including the Varna-Burgas main road (at the Varna exit), the roads to the Ilinden-Exohi border checkpoint, Kalotina border checkpoint, the Kulata border checkpoint, the Gyueshevo border checkpoint, the Vidin-Danube Bridge 2 road, among others.

“Agriculture Minister Vatev has categorically failed to tackle the problems in agriculture. He failed to defend the budget on the measure related to the war in Ukraine before the Government, did not make the necessary changes to the Strategic Plan so that payments to farmers would not be so reduced. Instead of reducing the administrative burden for farmers, new regulations were introduced that burdened farmers even more with bureaucracy. Nor did he express a definite position on GMO products to protect Bulgarian production and Bulgarian producers,” the Association wrote.

On Monday, Vatev and representatives of branch organizations discussed the signing of an agreement with measures to aid Bulgarian farmers at a meeting in the Agriculture Ministry. 

Grain growers started indefinite protests on February 6, raising demands about funding and the European Green Deal. Other farmers have joined the demonstrations since then. On Monday, farmers used heavy-duty machinery and bales of hay to block the highway between Ruse and Veliko Tarnovo at the village of Polikraishte (North Central Bulgaria) for several hours. Some of them spilled tanks of milk at the site.