SLOVAK farmers should receive at least as much financial support from the EU as those in neighbouring states, Prime Minister Robert Fico said after a meeting with Agriculture Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek and Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber (SPPK) chairman Milan Semančík on December 11. The representatives discussed the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is being prepared for the period of 2014-20.
“Slovakia exists in a certain region. We have neighbours - Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. I would be very glad if farmers were supported equally per hectare at least in this region,” Fico said at a briefing, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
On December 12, about 300 farmers protested in front of the Agriculture Ministry against the unequal subsidy conditions for European farmers. They also staged a march in Bratislava, at the end of which they emptied a wagon full of manure in front of the residence of the European Commission’s representation in Slovakia. Head of the Agrarian Chamber of Slovakia (AKS) Helena Patasiová told the SITA newswire that in spite of the EC’s pledges to make “old” and “new” member states equal by 2014, this promise remains unfulfilled.
