Romanian government reaches agreement with protesting farmers blocking the border with Ukraine - media

On Monday, the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and representatives of large agricultural organizations reached an agreement that satisfies a number of demands of protesting farmers blocking the border with Ukraine. This is reported by the publication Euractiv, UNN writes.

Details

According to the newspaper, Agriculture Minister Florin Barbu said that the agreement covers 13 farmers' demands. However, discussions will continue to find a compromise on the remaining demands.

The government pledged to fully subsidize all agricultural excise taxes by 2026 and to promptly introduce rules for subsidizing interest-bearing loans.

According to one of the farmers' representatives at the talks, Marius Miku, the agreement does not mean an immediate end to the protest, as upcoming negotiations with the carriers, which are scheduled to last until Thursday, may affect its duration.

Miku noted  that it is important that the Romanian government grant permission to deviate from the rules of mandatory crop rotation and the threshold of 4% of uncultivated land in each farm by January 31.

In addition, the government approved requests for compensation for losses caused by imports from Ukraine. The measures include separate labeling for grain and other goods and electronic control of seals using GPS at the port of Constanta.

Barbu also denied the information that Romania demanded to impose taxes on grain imports from Ukraine.

Addendum

On Monday, the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture reported that a number of eastern European Union states are demanding that the EU impose import duties on Ukrainian grain, citing "unfair competition." 

Recall

Romanian farmers blocked truck traffic at the Siret and Vicova de Sus checkpoints on the Romanian-Ukrainian border.