Approval from the European Commission for aid to farmers affected by drought is expected in the coming days and, within 35 days of obtaining approval, the money will enter the farmers' accounts, Agriculture Minister Petre Daea said on Friday.
"Since February 2 this year, we have sent to the European Commission the mechanism that we have agreed at country level to get approval from the Commission, as it is a state aid. We expect such approval to come in the coming days. We have the legal act, we will on this path of legal approval, so that this money will also come for the crops that were affected last year and were planted last spring. Of course, depending on the approval that will come from the European Commission, we estimate that the money can reach the farmers within 30-35 days," Daea said, after the meeting with the farmers' representatives who protested in the Capital.
He said that the amount foreseen for the disaster aid in the document sent to the European Commission is 870 million lei.
Farmers organised protests on Friday in several counties of Romania and in the Capital, dissatisfied with the solution found by the European Commission to the problems and serious imbalances faced by the Romanian agri-food sector, amid market distortions caused by the armed conflict in Ukraine, told Agerpres.
In Bucharest, the protest started at the European Commission Representation, after which the farmers went to the Ministry of Agriculture, where they asked to talk to Minister Petre Daea.