The grain growers and agricultural processors ended their two-day nationwide protests. The demonstrations were provoked by the lifting of a ban on Ukrainian food imports by the Bulgarian Parliament on September 14.
The Initiative committee of the nationwide agricultural protests is holding a meeting with government representatives at the Council of Ministers, at which the two sides have agreed to sign a memorandum regarding the five demands raised by the protesters. The farmers are pushing for two deadlines in the agreement with the government in order to sign it.
The first deadline refers to the fourth demand that the protesting farmers raised to the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the President. The Initiative committee insists that de minimis aid of BGN 71 million be distributed in equal parts to producers of grapes, potatoes, raspberries, plants grown in greenhouses and tobacco, stockbreeders and bee-keepers by the end of September.
The second deadline refers to their second demand – they want 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.
National Grain Producers Association Chair Ilia Prodanov, who is part of the Initiative committee of the protests, said: "Our demand is the money to be paid by September 30, while the government's proposal is to pay the total amount of up to BGN 213 million by October 6".
Earlier on Wednesday, at the beginning of the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said that the government had shown how it would continue to work in the future - "by making concrete commitments that it can fulfil and seeking the best solutions to problems through negotiations". In his words, the commitments made by the cabinet are to be shaped as documents, which will be signed by government representatives, so that it is clear who will implement them.
Denkov also said that at Wednesday's government meeting the cabinet provided additional BGN 63 million for the farmers. The procedures for receiving the funds will be facilitated so that the money reaches the farmers as soon as possible. The cabinet is also working to resolve the issue of sunflower import from Ukraine. There will be no imports of sunflower from Ukraine unless the quantity is regulated by a quota, Denkov said on Tuesday.
/VE/
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