Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov supports the farmers’ request to be allowed to import diesel fuel directly, for production needs. “I don’t think the difference in price will be very great, but the fact that the farmers will have the right to import diesel fuel directly, not through operators, means a lot. The Government approved a bill to this effect, but I don’t know where it is now,” said the official, quoted by IPN.

The minister said that he permanently discusses with representatives of farmers, but their requests are not always within the Ministry’s competence. “I’m ready to help them,” said Vasile Bumacov, when asked by journalists to comment on the protests mounted by farmers in the Great National Assembly Square in Chisinau.

Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar said he is not sure that those who took to the streets are farmers. “The farmers work in the fields now. Those who protest pursue political goals,” he stated, adding that the bill to amend the Law on Oil Products has stayed in the State Chancellery for two years and he does not know why it is not forwarded.

According to calculations presented by organizations representing farmers, the agricultural producers will save 500 million lei a year if they are authorized to import oil products directly. This is the value of the agriculture subsidization fund for 2013.