Romanian government reaches agreement with farmers who blocked the border with Ukraine

On January 15, the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and representatives of major agricultural organizations reached an agreement that satisfies several demands of farmers protesting and blocking the border with Ukraine.

Agriculture Minister Florin Barbu said that the agreement includes 13 demands of the farmers. At the same time, discussions will continue to find a compromise on unresolved requests, Euractiv reports.

The government pledged to fully subsidize all agricultural excise taxes until 2026 and to immediately enact provisions on subsidized interest-bearing loans.

According to Marius Miku, one of the farmers’ representatives at the talks, the signed agreement does not mean an immediate end to the protest, as their duration may be affected by the upcoming negotiations with transporters, which will last until Thursday.

Miku added that it was important that the government allow deviations from the mandatory crop rotation rules and 4% of fallow land on each farm by January 31.

In addition, the government has approved compensation for damages caused by imports from Ukraine. Measures include clear labeling of grain and other goods, as well as electronic monitoring of seals using GPS at the port of Constanta.

Minister Barbu denied that Romania is seeking to impose import duties on Ukrainian grain imports.

The day before, the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture reported that the relevant ministers of Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary in a joint letter to the European Commission demanded the introduction of import duties on Ukrainian grain due to alleged unfair competition.

In the letter, quoted by the Hungarian ministry, the five eastern EU countries ask the European Commission to take action because of cheaper agricultural products from Ukraine, which they claim are eating into their export markets.

Tags: Romania, protests