Farmers and government will jointly defend interests on EU direct payments in Brussels next week

Today, November 15, representatives of Latvian farmers' organizations discussed Latvia's strategy on the issue of European Union direct payments with Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and Minister of Agriculture Laimdota Straujumas. This issue is particularly important for farmers due to the meeting of EU leaders in Brussels next week, during which the EU's multiannual budget for 2014-2020 will be reviewed. The meeting was also attended by Sandra Kalniete, Member of the European Parliament.

Latvian farmers' organizations, together with Estonian and Lithuanian farmers, have been united in a joint campaign for a whole year to achieve that the level of EU direct payments for the Baltic countries is at least 801% of the average in the European Union. Today's meeting with the Prime Minister took place just a short time before the Baltic farmers' protest tractor welcoming event taking place in Dome Square, which brought together almost two hundred farmers, politicians and media representatives. Representatives of the farmers' organizations are pleased that the Prime Minister informed about the current events during the negotiations with EU officials, as well as listened to their opinions.

Edgars Treibergs, Chairman of the Board of the Farmers' Organizations Cooperation Council (LOSP): "The Prime Minister expressed his support for Latvian farmers and gratitude to farmers' organizations for their activity so far. Now the main thing is to be confident in your rights and maintain a purposeful attitude that what has been started must be achieved effectively. This is not the last round of negotiations in Brussels, as negotiations will still take place and may drag on for several months, so the final result is not yet known, but the Prime Minister promised to direct the negotiations in such a way as to achieve Latvia's positions on the issue of equalization of direct payments."

Chairman of the Farmers' Parliament Juris Lazdiņš: "We emphasized to the Prime Minister that competitiveness is important to us - not absolute numbers, but percentages that distort competition. While working this year, we have provided good ground for understanding the situation in the Baltic States, now the Prime Minister must be able to ensure that if the EU budget is reduced, then it should be at the expense of those countries that receive payments that significantly exceed the EU level."

Ilze Aizsilniece, Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of the Latvian Agricultural Association: "During the meeting, we received unanimous support from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture. The Prime Minister recognizes our demands, and it is gratifying that we have managed to work together all this time, and I am confident that we will continue to do so."