November 7, 2008

National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski met on November 7, 2008, with representatives of grain producers who object government policies on subsidies.

The media statement says:

During the talks, we reached the agreement that on Monday, with the help of parliament, a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture and Foods will be held. The goals to be attained at the negotiations are going to be:

First – discuss the matter of subsidies and agree on concrete steps to clear the way for the distribution of funds among entitled grain producers and to make sure that funds will not be misappropriated. We held detailed discussions regarding the system and the present legal frame of distribution. We reached the conclusion that the procedures of application for subsidies should be repeated in order to make sure that the latter are conforming with the law and the rules of the European institutions and no cracks for embezzlement are left. The whole system of distribution of national and European funds needs to be reconsidered and discussions for the next year budget have to account for such funds.

We agreed that the working groups, created in the spring of 2008, to check the information discrepancies, regarding applications for subsidies and the number of sown lands, have obtained some results. The Association of grain producers has created an expert and legal backup to meet the farmers’ demands and provide liaison with the Ministry of Agriculture and Foods.
We have reached the agreement that the meeting in the Ministry, on Monday, will be held in the presence of parliamentary members in charge of direct control of this sector.

We have not discussed the concrete amount, to be allocated for government subsidies. The matter now is to revise the system and make it transparent on the issues of who is entitled and who is not to receive the money. A simple rule should be followed - the grain producers’ applications for subsidies should be streamlined and addressed by a single body so that duplicating and doubts should be eliminated.