February 6 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian farmers launched indefinite protests on Tuesday, blocking 80 locations across the country, after rejecting measures proposed by the government to support the agricultural sector, public broadcaster BNT reported.
More than 20 agricultural associations demanded the resignation of Bulgaria's agriculture minister Kiril Vatev on Monday, the BNT said.
You can download the 2023 Agriculture industry in Southeast Europe report here
The government's proposed aid schemes, which included allocating 150 million levs ($82.4 million/76.7 million euro) to livestock breeders, milk processors and fruit and vegetable producers, were met with criticism by the Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber (BAC).
The list of farmers' complaints is long, ranging from excessive environmental regulations to cheap produce imports from non-EU countries like Ukraine.
Grain producers, for instance, are frustrated by the requirement to demonstrate losses in 2023 to qualify for support. However, annual tax returns for last year will not be able to reflect losses which have been growing over the past three years, BAC said.
Bulgarian farmers are thus joining their counterparts across Europe who have been blocking major capitals and economic routes across the 27-nation bloc for weeks.
In Romania, the government announced on Friday that it reached an agreement with farmers and truckers after weeks of protests against high costs.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)