Hundreds Of Farmers Protest Across Romania Calling For State Support For Agriculture

The farmers, affiliated with and organized by the Agrostar union federation and the National Federation of Romanian Agricultural Producers, are to picket 23 county halls Thursday in the counties Arges, Alba, Arad, Bacau, Bihor, Braila, Brasov, Buzau, Calarasi, Covasna, Dambovita, Dolj, Galati, Giurgiu, Harghita, Ialomita, Maramures, Olt, Prahova, Sibiu, Timis, Vaslui and Vrancea. The union federation said Wednesday protester numbers are expected to reach 15,000 throughout the country.

Farmers are also set to hold a massive rally in capital Bucharest on September 9 and, as a last resort, block national and county roads on September 23. Demonstrators in the western city of Timisoara said Thursday they might decide to block customs points in the county after the rally in Bucharest.

They demand legislation and the European Commission's approval for state aid for the farming and forestry sectors, subsidies per head of livestock and per hectare, the irrigation system's restoration and improvement, support for investments in storage silos, legislation providing compensation for disaster damage and the introduction of genetically modified plants.

The farmers also demand solid measures to support the vegetable, fruit, fishing, beekeeping and poultry breeding sectors, as well as Romanian producers of tractors and farming machinery, a fiscal policy to successfully reduce the black market and stimulate the introduction of local agricultural production on the legal market, supporting farmer organizations' participation in workgroups in Brussels to better defend their interests, the promotion of "green" energy produced from renewable sources, measures strengthening the role of social dialogue and observance of the state's obligations to producers.

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