„The European Commission has prepared a draft regulation to support Polish cereal producers”, said Deputy Agriculture Minister Ryszard Bartosik after a meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels.

The European Commission, in response to a request from six Member States neighbouring Ukraine, i.e. Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, decided to prepare a draft regulation on support for regions clearly affected by excessive imports. 

Based on objective criteria, such as the scale of the increase in supply causing pressure on local prices and problems in logistics chains, the Commission has decided to propose support for Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. Brussels wants to allocate a total of €56.3 million in aid to cereal producers. The draft regulation proposes €29.5 million for Poland, €16.75 million for Bulgaria and €10.05 million for Romania. Each of the assisted countries will be able to double the budget for this purpose by adding national money.

The regulation should be approved within the next week. On this matter, Deputy Minister Ryszard Bartosik spoke with EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski.

“He informed me that the regulation is ready, and we will receive the funds from the crisis reserve. We will then be able to provide support to farmers. It will still be possible to supplement this with the same amount, so next week these decisions will be made and we will be able to launch it”, said the deputy head of the agriculture ministry.

Ministers present in Brussels also exchanged views on a new package of measures proposed by the European Commission to increase the sustainability and resilience of the EU fisheries and aquaculture sector. They also discussed the agricultural aspects of the draft regulation on the recovery of natural resources.

Adrian Andrzejewski