Romania and other young EU members stand for equal agricultural subsidies in all EU states

Agriculture ministers from six younger states of the European Union present at an informal reunion in the Danube Delta organized by the Romanian Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry (MADR) from May 9 to 11, asked for equal payments per hectare, Cabinet official, Mihaela Luca told Newsin.

Agriculture ministers from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovenia agreed on the necessity to equalize payments per hectare in all EU member states. One of the eventual solutions to the issue was to impose older members to allot some of the money for payments to rural development, reducing the amount of the subsidy.

Luca said the amount of subsidies given by the states that joined the bloc in 2004 and 2007 should hike gradually to reach the level posted by the old EU states in 2004. As far as Romania is concerned, coming in line with the European average from 50.5 euros per hectare to 200 euros should be done in 2016, the official added.

Romania believes the European Union should keep the same Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) budget after 2013 and revise the way European funds are granted, Agriculture Minister Dacian Ciolos said on March 27.

The CAP reformation was the subject of a harsh dispute between France and the UK in 2005. It split EU into the countries with powerful agriculture segments and those whose agriculture was less important for the economy.

The CAP entered into force in 1962 when the founding members of the EC had just emerged from over a decade of severe food shortages during and after the Second World War.

The CAP reformation in 2003 changed the fund allotment system by perking up rural development. This is a good opportunity for the Romanian rural areas considering that most of them lack minimum infrastructure. Romania's agriculture was hit by serious drought last summer, provoking significant damages to crops.

NewsIn