Farmers threaten protests. On Monday, the Farmers' Force is organising a warning protest outside the government
Farmers threaten new protests. The Farmers' Force Association accuses the government of ignoring their demands and says it will stage a warning protest outside the government on Monday 14 August. The farmers are calling for a meeting with Prime Minister Dorin Recean to discuss the problems they face, including the urgent approval of regulations on the allocation of wheat and barley compensation and the distribution of Romanian diesel. Agriculture Minister Vladimir Bolea, on the other hand, says the regulations are ready and will soon be approved by the Executive. He invites farmers to discussions at the ministry.
Representatives of the "Farmers' Force" Association claim that the authorities have not met their demands during their last meetings with Prime Minister Dorin Recean on 22 June and with Agriculture Minister Vladimir Bolea on 27 June.
"Almost two months have passed since then and neither the allocation of compensation for wheat and barley nor the distribution of Romanian diesel, not that they have not been carried out, but neither have the regulations been approved. We don't know anything about the moratorium on the payment of debts to all creditors that we have requested, and we see big problems in the export process that the big trucks stay five, six days in a row and can't export the production", said the executive director of the Farmers' Force Association, Alexandru Slusari.
On the other hand, Agriculture Minister Vladimir Bolea says that so far they have been working on the regulations and that soon the documents will be approved by the Executive. At the same time, Vladimir Bolea says he is ready to talk to farmers.
"The regulations are ready, a lot of work has been done on them, they have been targeted, everything is being worked on, everything is being done in the interest of Moldovan farmers. And this 200 million lei is a measure proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture to subsidise the cost price. The problem of costs is an economic problem and the solutions to be addressed must be economic solutions. The government has decided to subsidise the excise duty on diesel and to partially subsidise fertilisers, and the money they will receive in their accounts will hopefully reduce the cost price and enable them to face competition," said the Agriculture Minister.
In June, farmers organised several protests. On 19 June, farmers arrived with tractors at the Great National Assembly Square, where they protested non-stop until 27 June, when they announced a break until 1 August after talks with Prime Minister Dorin Recean and Agriculture Minister Vladimir Bolea. At the time, the authorities said they had identified 200 million lei to be given as compensation to grain and oilseed producers, although farmers had asked for 700 million lei in total. They agreed to receive a further 350 million lei. According to some experts, grain and oilseed prices have fallen significantly amid a large influx of grain from Ukraine.
