The lawmaker of the Democratic Party (PDM) Andrian Candu considers it absolutely necessary to substantially increase the subsidies given to farmers by the state as they are about 42 times lower than the similar subsidies in the European countries, Info-Prim Neo reports. In his speech in the September 28 sitting of Parliament, Andrian Candu spoke about the importance of the support offered to farmers given that Moldova aims to become a competitive economy on the European markets. “If we want to become competitive, especially after penetrating new European markets and signing the Free Trade Agreement with the EU, we should pay attention to the fact that the subsidies in the EU member states represent 15% of the GDP on average,” he stated. For comparison, the subsidies offered to the Moldovan farmers constitute 0.36% of the GDP. The statement was made during parliamentary discussions centering on the situation in agriculture. According to a communiqué from the PDM, the comparison with the European average was made not accidentally. The PDM assumed the objective of integrating Moldova into the European Union so as to increase the living standards up to the European ones. “The integration into the EU includes reforms in all the spheres, starting with agriculture and continuing with the social sphere, economy, justice, security, food security, protection of investments and others,” said the MP. The communiqué says the PDM considers that the state must support the farmers on a permanent basis and the current legislation should be amended. Earlier, the Democratic lawmakers proposed an amendment whereby the farmers are allowed to pay the spring tax after the harvest. A new deadline proposed now for paying taxes is December 31. Also, the bill concerning the introduction of a common tax in agriculture drafted by the PDM was examined by the Agriculture Ministry and is to be debated in Parliament.