Slovakia to Receive €5.24 million from EU to Compensate Farmers

Brussels/Luxembourg, June 26 (TASR-correspondent) - At its meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, the EU Council for Agriculture approved a €100-million package of support for farmers in Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania, which was submitted on May 3 in connection with imports of certain farm commodities from Ukraine. Of the €100 million package, €5.24 million will go to Slovakia, €9.77 million to Bulgaria, €15.93 million to Hungary, €39.33 million to Poland and €29.73 million to Romania. Farmers from these five countries have been facing problems related to logistical obstacles resulting from imports of certain farm products from Ukraine. Exceptional and temporary measures banning imports of selected farm products from Ukraine took effect as of May 2 and will be gradually scrapped by September 15. In this connection, the European Commission (EC) on Monday proposed mobilising additional funds amounting to €330 million. These are intended for farmers from 22 member states affected by adverse climate events, high input costs and various market and trade-related problems. Payments for the two support packages should be made by December 31, 2023. Member states will be obliged to inform the EC of the details of how the measures have been implemented, in particular about the criteria used to calculate the aid, about the intended impact of the measure in question, about its evaluation and about the measures taken to prevent any distortion of competition. ko/df