Farmers

Until May 11, Romanian cereal producers can submit requests for financial support to make up for the losses suffered due to cheap cereal imports from neighboring Ukraine. The total amount is approximately 20 million euros, half from the European Union budget, and the other from the Romanian state budget. On Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv said that the limitation of Ukrainian grain imports into the Union countries was categorically unacceptable and that such restrictions would not be in accordance with the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU and with the principles and rules of the European single market. Previously, the European Commission announced that an agreement in principle had been reached to allow the resumption of the transit of Ukrainian grain through Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. In Bucharest, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă has welcomed the agreement that provides for a new support package worth 100 million euros for the affected farmers and stressed that Romania’s strictly European position was a ‘correct and balanced’ one.