Brussels, 02/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 31 October, Bulgaria requested Germany's support for its request for an upper limit on agricultural aid, to prevent large corporate farmers from receiving millions of euros.
In Sofia, the Bulgarian agriculture minister, Miroslav Naïdenov, discussed reforms in the common agriculture policy (CAP), which is due to enter into force from 2014, with his German opposite number,
Ilse Aigner.
“The largest farms in Germany are between 4,000 and 5,000 ha, whilst there are farmers in Bulgaria working nearly 100,000 ha. This disproportion creates agromillionaires to the detriment of smallholders”, said Naïdenov.
“Upper limits on direct payments are needed, because 3.4% of beneficiaries in Bulgaria receive 78% of the subsidies”, he explained.
Bulgaria's accession to the EU in 2007 awoke the interest of the nouveau riche in creating massive farms, which receive aid in proportion to their surface area. Between 2006 and 2010, Bulgarian agriculture received subsidies of €1.84 billion.
At the recent Agriculture Council in Luxembourg on 20 October, the Czech Republic, Finland, the United Kingdom and Germany opposed the Commission's proposal to place an upper limit of €300,000 on aid. Romania and the Netherlands also voiced criticism of the plan. (LC/transl.fl)