Former Deputy Speaker of Parliament Alexandru Slusari considers the government should identify the necessary resources to fully cover the excise duty for farmers. He said a 30% subsidy does not represent consistent assistance for farmers. For his part, PAS MP Lilian Carp said that if the money is fully distributed to farmers, the Government will be unable to pay pensions and salaries to citizens, IPN reports.

As Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița announced, the agriculture subsidization fund for 2022 will be 1.75 billion lei. Also, the state decided to cover 30% of the value of the excise duty on diesel fuel used in agriculture.

“When there is no order on the market and the wholesale price is by 2 lei higher than the retail price, the refund of the excise duty is not a big deal. The excise is 2.52 lei per liter. The sum is not significant. In all the European countries, this problem was forgotten. The excise duty is not paid by farmers. If they had aimed to offer palpable assistance, they should have fully refunded the excise duty. If they refund the excise duty to everyone, including agro-holdings, this will be an inequity again. If those who can afford to pay for diesel fuel, who get cheap loans and the money goes to offshores are excluded and only small and medium-sized farmers remain, financial resources can be identified to fully refund the excise duty. This is the minimum that can be done now for farmers. If the whole excise duty is refunded to everyone, except for agricultural holdings, about 300 million lei will be needed,” Alexandru Slusari stated in the program “Secrets of the Power” on JurnalTV channel.

Representatives of the government said the augmentation of the agriculture subsidization fund is a consistent financial burden for the state budget and the full covering of the excise duty for farmers would leave other areas without financial coverage.

“The agriculture subsidization fund is of 1.75 billion lei and is larger than last year. It was increased despite the difficult conditions we experience. The question is, what shall we do? There are other areas, such as assistance for socially-deprived groups. If we give all the money to farmers, we risk not being able to pay pensions. The paid taxes reach the budget and then the pensioners,” said PAS MP Lilian Carp.

This year, the Government will compensate 30% of the value of the excise duty on diesel fuel used in agriculture. At the same time, it will be possible to compensate up to 200,000 lei from the interest rate on the loans taken out for the supplementation of current assets and, additionally, up to 150,000 lei for the loans taken out for investment projects. The subsidy cap for the construction of renewable energy production facilities will be increased to 1.5 million lei.