Daea: Romania shouldn't have received a penny from the European Commission under calculation algorithm

Romania was not supposed to get a single cent from the European Commission based on the calculation algorithm to support its farmers affected by grain imports from Ukraine, Agriculture Minister Petre Daea told Parliament on Tuesday, adding that the amount received of EUR 10 million was incorrect.

"Learning that the amount allocated from the reserves, EUR 56.3 million, is distributed to only three member states, and Romania is allocated the amount of EUR 10 million, I acted through all channels, requested and had meetings with the commissioner on March 17, when he unveiled to me the calculation method and the distributed amount, and based on the calculation algorithm, Romania was not supposed to get a single cent. Since I considered the amount and the calculation method to be incorrect, I asked the commissioner for an analysis with Romanian experts. That happened, and the next day the President of Romania addressed the European Council. Knowing the technical procedures regarding the drawing up of legislation at the level of the European Union institutions, I knew that the amount would be validated by a decision, which happened, and currently another amount is being considered in additional support," Daea told a meeting that discussed a parliamentary motion tabled against him.

Daea added that it informed the Permanent Representation of Romania to the European Union about the country's position regarding the amendment of Regulation (EU) 2022/870 on temporary trade-liberalisation measures supplementing trade concessions applicable to Ukrainian products.

"We are in direct contact with the European bodies and with the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism, which is an authority of the Romanian state responsible for commercial policy," Daea told the lawmakers.

He also mentioned his video conferences with the agriculture ministers of Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary and a senior official of the Czech Republic on the grain crisis in Ukraine, saying that they are in line with finding a common solution that is operational from a legal point of view in order to give Romanian farmers the opportunity to free storage spaces, to prepare them for the storage of the new harvest.

The minister said that an association agreement was concluded between the European Union and Ukraine that entered into force on September 1, 2017 after being ratified by the parliaments of all the EU member states, including Romania.

The agreement mainly provides for gradual economic integration, the progressive establishment of a free trade zone between the parties in accordance with the 1994 general agreement on tariffs and trade.

The Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday discussed a simple motion tabled by the Save Romania Union (USR) and the Right Force against Daea, and a vote on it was scheduled for the next day.

AGERPRES