Bulgaria one of five EU member states that demand aid for farmers affected by Ukrainian imports

Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania will ask the EU to provide aid in 2024 for farmers in these countries affected by imports from Ukraine, Minister of Agriculture and Food Kiril Vatev said on Monday. Vatev is in Brussels for a meeting of the EU Council.

The agriculture ministers from these five EU Member States discussed this decision at an earlier meeting focused on the impact of Ukrainian agricultural imports.

Vatev said that he discussed the matter with the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, on Monday. On the subject of the aid ceiling, which currently stands at EUR 250,000, the Minister said that the European Commission sent a letter proposing to lift the ceiling to EUR 280,000 and have it in force until March 31, 2024. The Agriculture Ministry responded through the Ministry of Finance that no ceiling should be imposed. Wojciechowski said that Bulgarian is the only Member State that wants no ceiling on state aid and added that such a policy would breach the European regulations.