A stable and independent Common Agricultural Policy, containing two pillars with enhanced coherence and a separate special budget is necessary to be maintained”. This was what the Minister of Agriculture and Food, Dr. Georgi Tahov stated at a meeting of the EU Council on Agriculture and Fisheries in Brussels, where the European Commission presented its communication “Vision for Agriculture and Food: Shaping together an attractive farming and agri-food sector for future generations”.
He pointed out that it is important to preserve the successful CAP instruments when considering the future development of policies in the EU, in particular instruments with adequate financing as direct payments and coupled support in order to efficiently respond to the increased economic and environmental challenges. Minister Tahov highlighted that it is important to put a much clearer and categorical emphasis on the need to achieve full external convergence of direct payments. “This is an extremely important issue for Bulgaria in order to create a level playing field for farmers in the EU,” the Minister of Agriculture noted. According to him, farmers must be sure that the transition to sustainable production models will be supported by stable financial instruments and policies that will stimulate investment and innovation without creating additional administrative burdens.
During the meeting, the Ministers of Agriculture also discussed the state of the market, in particular following the invasion of Ukraine. The Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture pointed out that agricultural farms continue to struggle with the extremely challenging economic situation. “We believe that the farms will also be under additional financial pressure, following the proposal for increased duties on fertilizer imports from Russia and Belarus. We express concerns that this will create a prerequisite for a significant increase in fertilizer prices,” he further emphasized.
Minister Tahov noted that the significant quantities of Ukrainian honey and chicken eggs entering the European market at very low prices, putting pressure on the prices of Bulgarian production and and cause a negative impact on sales on traditional European markets. “Regardless of the automatic safeguard measures introduced at the EU level, the import of eggs and honey from Ukraine to Bulgaria remains at very high levels,” Tahov added further.
He pointed out that the total export of honey from Bulgaria decreased by 6.6 percent compared to the same period in 2023 due to a decrease in shipments to EU countries for the first ten months of 2024. The reason is the same for the decline in the export of fresh chicken eggs for consumption from Bulgaria.
Regarding rural development policy, Minister Tahov stated that the evaluation of administrative burden and rural development disparities should be strengthened. “It is important to start centralised administrative capacity building initiatives in each municipality. They would allow the exchange of good practices and successful models from other countries,” he added.
According to Minister Tahov, all municipalities and organizations developing social entrepreneurship in rural areas should have easier access to capacity building funding, small grants and the opportunity to exchange experiences, for example through short-term exchanges such as Erasmus for rural areas.
“It is important to overcome the fragmentation of rural development policy and define clearer objectives, especially given the risks of aging farm population and the fact that only around 10 percent of farmers in the EU are young farmers. “Rural areas need more services, better education, support for lifelong learning, and events that promote their social and economic development," Minister Tahov concluded.