Prime Minister: No reason for farmers' protests

There are no grounds for the farmers' protests. It is no coincidence that they are being staged shortly before the upcoming cabinet rotation (in March), Prime Minister, Nikolay Denkov, said at a briefing in the Council of Ministers on February 5.

"There are no grounds for these protests. It is no coincidence that they are staged shortly before the upcoming rotation (of Prime Ministers) in the cabinet. We expect in the coming days to continue the dialogue with the grain growers and sign the new memorandum on joint actions, the points of which we agreed yesterday at the meeting with them. Every day with protests will delay the opportunity to help those producers who are really in need right now."

"Filing an annual tax return is an obligation for every business. The reluctance of grain growers to prove if they suffered losses or not in 2023 in order to benefit from the Cabinet's offer of additional financial support is inexplicable," Denkov added.

"The government cannot support grain growers who may turn out to have made a profit in 2023 - neither with state nor with EU funds. This contradicts economic logic and the rights and interests of other citizens of the country. For 2018, 2019, 2020, the declared profit is between BGN 900 million and BGN 1 billion. For 2021 the profits jump to BGN 2 billion declared, and in 2022 - BGN 3 billion. Whether in 2023 the sector was at a loss remains to be seen from the financial statements," Denkov said.

Nikolay Denkov said that for 2023, Bulgaria ranks second in the EU after Poland in the volume of funds provided to farmers in connection with the problems arising from the war in Ukraine.

"At the same time, the legacy of 30 years of problems cannot find a solution in a few months. Therefore, in discussion with the farmers, we have identified a number of changes that can be made to the laws and on which we have full agreement with them that we should work together. We support their demands for easing environmental restrictions and these demands are already being heard and supported by the EC," the Prime Minister added.

The Prime Minister and the Minister of Agrculture met on Sunday with representatives of the agricultural sector and offered state aid, but only to grain farmers who prove to the National Revenue Agency that they suffered losses in 2023. Denkov promised an additional 150 million BGN, which will be allocated to the livestock breeders, dairy farmers, fruit and vegetable producers.

Farmers will stage protests in 80 places in the country on Feb 6

The associations have briefed their members on the proposals and decided this afternoon that there will be protests tomorrow anyway - at 80 locations across the country.