Czech farmers dispute EC proposals
Some 200 Czech farmers rallied in front of the Diplomat hotel in Prague today to voice discontent and disagreement with the current proposals of the European Commission. The hotel is the venue of a conference of ministers of agriculture of the EC candidates on enlargement and agriculture, with EU commissioner for agriculture, Franz Fischler, attending.
"We're here to express our dissatisfaction but at the same time our support of the ministers," Agricultural Chamber head Vaclav Hlavacek said. Also participating in the protest are Slovak representatives.
The farmers are carried banners proclaiming ‘CR is no Klondike for the EU member states’ and ‘Equal Conditions for Czech Pigs’.
Fischler briefly received representatives of the farmers, and Czech Agriculture Minister Jaroslav Palas assured them that they would do their best to secure that not a single farmer would be harmed. Fischler however said he was bound to act on behalf of heads of the 15 EU member states.
Hlavacek continued to say that the European Commission proposals further limit the size of Czech agriculture. The EC proposes that in the beginning the candidates' farmers will get only a quarter of direct payments, compared to their EU counterparts, with gradual increase to the full payment expected before 2013. Quotas specifying volumes of subsidised produce have been cut markedly by the EC against Czech requirements.
