None of the demands put forwardly the farmers during the June protests was fully satisfied. When they took their tractors to the Great National Assembly Square, the farmers announced that they decided to suspend the protests until August 1 in the hope that the authorities will come up with solutions to the problems they face.
“The situation is rather difficult. The prices of agricultural products remained at a very low level. The creditors press the farmers to immediately clear the debts or to offer products to settle the debts at these derisory prices. Our demands by this moment haven’t been fully satisfied. Several demands are being satisfied,” the leader of the public association “Force of Farmers” Alexandru Slusari has told IPN.
According to him, the harvesting works continue this week and the association’s Board decided to come together next week to decide the subsequent steps. These will depend on the decisions that will be taken by the authorities and on the opinions of farmers. After the protests were suspended, the farmers have warned about multiple problems as the goal of farmers is not to mount protests, but to obtain solutions to the existing problems.
The representatives of the “Force of Farmers” said that a month has passed since they discussed the draft regulations on the partial compensation of farmers’ production costs and the distribution of diesel fuel provided by Romania. “But the Cabinet hasn’t regrettably adopted these documents and the agenda of the August 2 meeting does not include the given drafts. Our organization’s proposals over the two regulations on particular aspects haven’t been taken into account,” stated Alexandru Slusari, noting the farmers demand to hasten the approval of the regulations and to maximally de-bureaucratize the procedures.
The farmers also ask for a prompt meeting with the Prime Minister so as to discussion the imposition of a moratorium on the payment of debts of farmers who cultivate grain and oil crops.