Slovakia rejects reduction in EU subsidies for large farms

Slovakia rejects reduction in EU subsidies for large farms

Slovakia insists that the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) shouldn't be discriminatory against any forms of enterprise and size of business, stated Slovak Agriculture Minister Gabriela Matečná in Brussels on Monday. Following Brexit, the European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan is under pressure to impose cuts in EU's €59-billion-a year farm subsidies. Proposals on the table aim at reducing subsidies for large farms, a move that would principally affect countries such as Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Eastern parts of Germany. An average farm in Slovakia has 80.7 hectares of land under its remit. "At first glance, it's a savvy political move that would reduce lavish payments to landed aristocrats and agricultural conglomerates. Hogan's problem, however, is that this subsidy ceiling would also deliver a painful blow to poorer (but bigger) Eastern European farms that used to be vast cooperatives in the communist era," wrote Politico. It adds that an earlier draft of reform plans suggested a compulsory cap of between €60,000 and €100,000 a year, but allowed some leeway beyond that to protect jobs.

A survey carried out in 2016 concluded that only 28 percent of Slovak farmers were satisfied with the system of financial aid. They feel that European Union's Common Agricultural Policy and its subsidy system discriminates against Slovak farmers as they receive lower payments and suffer stricter conditions than farmers from other states. It has a negative impact on competition in the market and it does not lead to increased effectivity. At the end of last year the Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber stressed its disappointment with the state subsidies for the sector too. Slovak food products represent only 40 percent of similar goods on the shelves, while a more balanced approach is needed in the relations between sellers and farmers and food producers, according to the chamber's representatives.


Anca Dragu, Photo: TASR

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