The National Union of Agricultural Producers Associations “UniAgroProtect” in its annual assembly decided to demand that the subsidization fund for 2015 should be increased to 1 billion lei, IPN reports.

The Union suggests partially switching to the allocation of subsidies per hectare starting with 2015 and examining the possibility of introducing subsidization in advance. It also proposes raising the ceilings on the subsidization of purchases of agricultural machinery and equipment to 500,000 lei per unit and to 1 million lei per recipient.

“UniAgroProtect” considers that the VAT of 8% on the sale of agricultural products should be maintained unconditionally, while the VAT for agricultural products distributed to farmland owners instead of paying rent should be annulled.

According to the Union, the employers must not be obliged to pay sickness benefit for five days of sick leave, or the social insurance contributions should be reduced. “UniAgroProtect” will demand immediately adopting the Law on Day Workers and instituting obligatory minimum social insurance contributions for peasant farmsteads.

In order to combat monopolies, the farmers must be allowed to import diesel fuel and the methodology for calculating the highest price of the imported oil products must be modified. The National Consumer Protection Agency will be encouraged to impose administrative penalties on those who sign anti-competition agreements.

Another proposal is to adopt a legal norm to prevent the banks form raising the interest rate by more than 4% from the refinance rate set by the National Bank.