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| THE PAYMENT AND INTERVENTION AGENCY FOR AGRICULTURE - BACK ON TRACK? (2.11.2007) |
| (2007-11-02) |
| Last updated: 2007-11-04 15:40 EET |
The Romanian minister of agriculture has to sort out millions of applications for subsidies on farmland, which keep pouring in. The money is granted by the European Union and amounts to almost 50 euros per hectare. Payments are supposed to reach farmers starting on the 1st of December, but the deadline will be extended by a few months due to the poor running of the Payment and Intervention Agency for Agriculture. The main problems are agency’s information system and the inspection of the subsidized plots.
On the 10th of October, the European Commission urged Bucharest to solve these problems by the 9th of November or face the activation of the safeguard clause. This means cutting farmland subsidies by 25%, causing Romania to lose 110 million euros out of the total 440 million allocated by the European Union in 2007. Romania’s President Traian Basescu last month assured the Minister of Agriculture Dacian Ciolos, of his political support in his effort to avoid the activation of the safeguard clause. Predictably enough, Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu refused any help from the President. Tariceanu and the Agriculture Minister said Romania was on schedule and that half of the problems identified at the Payment and Intervention Agency had already been solved. Agriculture Minister Dacian Ciolos:
“The areas on which we will continue to put pressure is the administrative verification and the verification on the ground, because they will tell us exactly the date and places where we can start making the payments.”
To assess the progress made by Romania, the European Commission will examine the reports compiled by an auditing company hired to analyse the activity of the Payment and Intervention Agency. A decision on the introduction of the safeguard clause might be taken on the 27th of November. Political observers in Bucharest believe the Government will be able to break the deadlock and farmers will eventually receive their money next spring, based on the principle “better late than never”. This opinion is shared by Ion Banu, the director of the magazine Lumea Satului (Village Life).
“I believe everything will work out fine in the end for Romania, considering it’s not a small matter to lose over 100 million euros because of failure to put things in motion or bring them into line. Even though farmers don’t lose anything in the end, the country and each of us will, because the state budget is made up of all our contributions. I’m an optimist, though, and I don’t think this clause will be activated and things will run smoothly.”
(Valentin Tigau)
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2025-04-03
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