Baltic farmers' representatives insist on fair conditions across Europe

This week, representatives of Baltic farmers' organisations met with key decision-makers in the European Parliament and the European Commission in Brussels, and sent a joint letter to several Commissioners and President Jean-Claude Juncker to reiterate the need for a strong CAP budget and fair direct payments. Latvian farmers were represented in Brussels by Maira Dzelzkalēja-Burmistre, Deputy Chair of the association "Farmers' Parliament".

On May 2, the European Union's multiannual budget (for the period 2020-2027) will be published. Currently, representatives of farmers' organizations in the Baltic States are actively lobbying so that our farmers are on an equal footing with farmers in other Member States in the new planning period. This week, farmers' representatives met with both the offices of the European Commissioners, as they will be the ones who will approve the future budget and at the end of May also the legislative proposals on the CAP, and with members of the European Parliament, as they will have been discussing the proposals for almost a year and have a great opportunity to change the Commission's offer.

Maira Dzelzkalēja-Burmistre, Deputy Chairwoman of the Association “Farmers’ Council”: “In just a few days, the European Commissioners will jointly decide on the size and distribution of the new multi-annual budget of the European Union among the countries. Therefore, it is important for us to remind the main decision-makers of the interests of farmers and fair treatment of farmers across Europe. During our meetings with the decision-makers, we repeatedly emphasized the call of the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, that the European Union must ensure equal treatment of all farmers and that second-class farmers are not acceptable. The German MEPs are familiar with the situation with low direct payments in the Baltic countries from the previous planning period and acknowledged that this time the equalization of payments will be an even more difficult issue than before, as a number of countries openly oppose it.

Also, during the talks, we once again had to dispel the myth that "that payments in the Baltics are low because production costs are low. European statistical data very clearly shows that the main cost items in agriculture – fuel, electricity and fertilizer – are approximately at the EU average level (+/-5 %), while the price of the produced products is much lower due to the small internal market and distance to international markets."

At this time, a very important letter was to be sent to the European Union Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. Phil Hogan, to the president Jean-Claude Juncker, as well as several Commissioners (Gunther H. Oettinger (Germany), Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia), Andrus Ansip (Estonia), Vitenis Polivs Andrukaitis  (Lithuania), Jyrki Katainen (Finland), whose decisions will determine how much funding farmers will have in the next planning period. In the letter, the farmers' representatives emphasized that a reduction in the agricultural budget is unacceptable, as the challenges of the environment, competitiveness, and generational change for EU farmers are only increasing. Similarly, the level of direct payments for farmers in the Baltic States by 2020 will reach only 67-691% of the average EU payments.

Representatives of Baltic farmers' organizations met with a member of the European Parliament's Budget Committee in Brussels Reimer Boge (Germany), Member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development Albert Dess (Germany), European Union Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vitenis Polivs Andrukaitis  (Lithuania) Office Representatives, European Commission Commissioner Valda Dombrovska representatives of the Office and the European Union Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan office representatives.

The meeting with key decision-makers was initiated and organized by the offices of the Baltic farmers' organizations. Special thanks to the offices of EC Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and MEP Artis Pabriks, as well as the Lithuanian Association of Agricultural Cooperatives for their assistance!

Letter: Letter_to_Commissioner_Hogan_26_04_2018

Press release: PRes_Baltic farmers' representatives insist on fair conditions across Europe to European decision-makers_27042018