Agriculture Minister after farmers’ protest: I will continue to focus on dialogue to identify solutions to all demands

The solutions to farmers’ demands must be identified through dialogue with all parties involved. The position was expressed by Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Ludmila Catlabuga, after a group of farmers protested today at the Government.

Ludmila Catlabuga pointed out that the authorities have already managed to identify solutions for several of the problems raised by farmers.

“The principle of protesting is a democratic one; they have every right to do so and they have my full support in this context, bearing in mind that I will continue to focus on sitting down at the table for dialogue in order to identify solutions to all the demands they have. Even though actions have already been taken and measures implemented for a good part of the demands they had in the context of the excise duty and VAT reimbursement,” said Catlabuga.

According to the official, at the beginning of this year and during the spring agricultural campaign, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAIA) intervened to the extent possible to reduce the pressure from price increases and from the situation created at the global level.

In this context, the Government allocated 110 million lei for the reimbursement of the excise duty on diesel fuel. So far, more than 600 applications have been submitted for a quantity of about 5,000 tons of diesel.

Another 50 million lei were allocated to support farmers whose crops were affected by last year’s drought.

“We also intervened through the Agricultural Credit Facility. Forty‑one economic agents have requested working capital loans at a fixed interest rate. This gives farmers the possibility to obtain the liquidity in their accounts needed to continue their agricultural activities,” said Ludmila Catlabuga.

At the same time, the minister stressed that she will invite farmers to a dialogue to discuss possible solutions to the problems they have raised.

“Certainly, today’s discussions are worrying mainly on the fiscal side, in the context of value‑added tax and its reimbursement. My response remains the same – I will now have a discussion with the farmers so that I can extend an invitation to the ministry, to continue discussions in another format so that we can identify solutions,” said the Minister of Agriculture.

A group of farmers protested today at the Government, expressing dissatisfaction with the situation in the sector.