Representatives of farmers from Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic gathered in Poland to sign the Farmers’ Solidarity Pact, requesting, among other things, the immediate ban on imports of agricultural and food products from Ukraine, in the signatory countries.
From the Romanian side, the signatories were Alina Creţu, Executive Director and Tiberiu Stan, Vice-President of FAPPR (Forum of Professional Farmers and Processors from Romania).
“The APPR Forum (Corn Producers Association of Romania, n.r.) signs the Solidarity Pact together with the representatives of farmers from Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Slovakia. Yesterday, April 11, 2023, in Poland, the joint meeting of the representatives of farmers from the states more affected by the transit of grain and agricultural products from Ukraine”, the press release states.
According to the Joint Declaration – the farmers’ associations established that for the protection of national producers, consumers, for food safety and raw materials for food production, including the risks and speculative manipulation of products of plant and animal origin, the creation of reserves is requested sufficient financial resources within the EU reserve fund for the crisis for the countries in the vicinity of Ukraine.
“The need to control the quality of agricultural and food products, whose target destination is the EU member states, and the technical monitoring of the movement of goods to third countries” was also stated in the press release.
According to the quoted source, among the demands of the Solidarity Pact are: the immediate ban on imports of agricultural and food products from Ukraine, in the signatory countries, as well as direct intervention regarding the limitation of the quantities transited in the signatory countries for agricultural products from Ukraine.
At the same time, urgent intervention is requested for the purchase of existing grain stocks by the EU with a simultaneous increase in the intervention purchase price to 300 euros per ton.
At the end, the farmers’ representatives sent a firm appeal to the European authorities to act quickly in order to resolve these claims, to avoid a common protest in Brussels.
The meeting was also the occasion for a meeting with the new Minister of Agriculture of Poland, Robert Telus, who was open to future collaborations, including the formation, in future, of an Alliance of Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Slovak and Romanian farmers.
