Premier: Support for Farming to Reach at Least 2024 Level in Next Few Years

Bratislava, October 25 (TASR) - State support for the Slovak agricultural sector will be maintained to at least the level of 2024 in the next few years, said Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) following his meeting with representatives of the Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber (SPPK) at the Government Office on Friday with Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) in attendance. Despite the difficult situation in public finances, state aid for the sector will amount to some €60 million this year, said Fico. "The most important thing is the agreement that we'll maintain state aid at the current amount at least in 2024 and 2025 and that we'll go further. This is an agreement that I guarantee as premier. I'll also inform the finance minister that he'll have to reckon with such an agreement when drafting budgets for the next few years," said Fico. "Naturally, we discussed other issues during our talks as well. There was a very interesting idea, let's call it European margins. However, this is something that could be interesting for the future European Commissioner for Trade, all the more so because it could be Maros Sefcovic," noted Fico. Takac views the premier's guarantee of maintaining the current level of support as one of the most positive pieces of news received by the agricultural sector in the past couple of years. "The premier's declaration and the agreement guarantee that there will be no more years years with only 1 or 2 million euros from the state budget going to the agricultural sector," he said. According to its chairman Andrej Gajdos, SPPK welcomes the agreement on a guaranteed level of support for farming during the term of this government. "We are happy about the promise, as it concerns state-aid schemes that are common in neighbouring EU countries," he added. ko/df