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President Klaus Iohannis declared on Thursday in comments on the amount proposed by the European Commission as compensation for Romanian farmers impacted by the rise in Ukrainian grain imports that it could be that the data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture was not "thoroughly thought out", adding that the EC should have taken into account the "huge sacrifices" made by Romania to facilitate grain exports from Ukraine to the world markets.
"The situation is as follows: the Agriculture Ministry delivers data to the European Commission. The Commission uses a calculation formula, without negotiating with anyone, and grants certain aids. It could be that the data provided by the Ministry was not thoroughly thought out, but I didn't see it and I cannot comment on it. On the other hand, it is very peculiar that the European Commission holds no negotiations on these matters, but only applies formulas. In my opinion, these things cannot be solved by just an accountant's approach. These are complicated matters. We have to take into account, or at least the European Commission should have considered the huge sacrifices we made to facilitate the export of grain from Ukraine to the world markets. They didn't. I don't know why, but we will find out. It's regrettable that such ultra-bureaucratic approaches call into question the good faith of the Commission," said the head of the state before attending the European Council's spring meeting.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Petre Daea declared on Tuesday for AGERPRES that the amount of 10 million euros allocated to Romania as support for the farmers affected by the inflow of Ukrainian grains is ridiculously small and asked Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski to reconsider the calculation formula.
