Speaking on Tuesday at the Council of Ministers about the protests of farmers in the country, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said that the government is ready with the main points in the new memorandum it proposes to sign with farmers.
“We are waiting for them to continue the conversation and finalise the agreement. The goal is clear: unblocking the process as quickly as possible, which will allow the government to support grain farmers who have suffered losses in 2023,” Denkov said.
The National Grain Producers Association (NGPA), which represents and unites the vast majority of grain growers in Bulgaria, has launched indefinite protest actions.
“Every day that passes in protests and blockades instead of negotiations and preparation of the agreement and the implementation of the points of the new memorandum, delays us from the moment when those who really need this aid can receive it,” said Prime Minister Denkov. He pointed out that there will be an unavoidable delay until Bulgaria receives notification from the European Commission of the new measures proposed.
The Prime Minister listed the most important points of the draft memorandum, for which he urged farmers to return to the negotiating table. He expects the sector's representatives on Wednesday at 6 pm to reach an agreement with the government on all points of the new memorandum.
The first point concerns the legislative changes the sector is awaiting. Denkov assured that the farmers have the full support of the government and these are not just words. He stressed that their demands are fair, and seven bills are already in the pipeline and at a very advanced stage of preparation. Five of them will be presented in February and March for public consultation. On some of these bills, the Ministry of Agriculture is already working with the branch organisations of the producers concerned, the Prime Minister said. He added that this part of the work was continuing with priority so that the bills could be agreed, voted on by Cabinet, and submitted to Parliament as quickly as possible.
According to the second point of the draft memorandum, the government will negotiate with the European Commission together with farmers on their demands for easing the new environmental requirements, Denkov said. He added that some of these were already being changed at European level. There is already consensus with farmers on this issue, he added.
The third point of the memorandum is to provide support to producers against attempts to fully exempt imports of sunflower seeds to Bulgaria, the Prime Minister explained. According to him, Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev has already sent a letter to First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko in this spirit. The regimes set in the previous agreement between the government and the farmers are being maintained, Denkov said. He stressed that it was never mentioned in the talks with Ukraine that there would be a change in these regimes.
The Prime Minister announced a proposal regarding the losses of farmers for 2023, which is necessary for the proper distribution of funds without supporting profitable businesses. According to the proposal, the government is ready to implement a simplified mechanism for assessing their financial performance to speed up the process and ensure that farms receive additional subsidies as soon as possible. If such a simplified option for proving direct operating costs is approved, the Prime Minister said it would include labour, rent, cost of seeds, fertiliser, chemicals and services, and the funds would be released as quickly as possible after receiving EC notification.
Responding to a question, Denkov said there was an idea to use tax returns, which were the most objective form of document that could be used, to establish farmers' income and expenditure. However, since there were objections that it would delay the process, that it might not account for everything, the government is proposing this simplified procedure where a statement will be prepared that will specify the types of expenses and income that should be accounted for through the relevant documents. This will also be discussed at Wednesday's meeting with farmers, Denkov said.
Regarding the farmers' warnings that they would increase the pressure on other citizens with protests, Nikolay Denkov said that the only way to get out of this situation is to understand how to support farmers who need help, and not to hand out funds to everyone. This, according to the Prime Minister, can only be done through negotiations, signing a memorandum with clear commitments from each side. According to Denkov, delaying the negotiations means delaying the funds for the farmers.
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