EU to step up aids to Romanian farmers hit by local oversupply of grains from Ukraine

The European Commission will review the volume of aid allocated to Romanian farmers after President Klaus Iohannis presented their difficult situation, News.ro announced on March 23. The sources said the promise was made during the European Council meeting by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Romania's minister of agriculture, Petre Daea, came under criticism after the EC decided to allocate only EUR 10 mln in compensation to producers subjected to the shock of grain imports from Ukraine.

"It is regrettable that such ultra-bureaucratic approaches call into question the good faith of the Commission," the Romanian President stated.

He argued that the European Commission had to take into account the fact that Romania made huge sacrifices to facilitate the export of cereals from Ukraine to the world's markets. This resulted in low prices on the local market and higher logistic costs incurred by local farmers.

The European Commission announced on March 20 that it wants to use a crisis reserve to support farmers in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, a reserve totalling EUR 56.3 mln, financed from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reserve, to compensate for the economic losses due to the increase in imports of cereals and oilseeds from Ukraine and to limit the impact of market imbalances.

(Photo source: Denys Kovtun/Dreamstime.com)