Jakovina and Farmers Without Agreement, Continuation on Monday

The meeting between Minister of Agriculture Tihomir Jakovina and representatives of the Croatian Agricultural Chamber (HPK) ended today without an agreement, and a new meeting has been proposed for Monday, August 12.

As stated by HPK President Matija Brlošić in a statement to reporters after the multi-hour meeting, the minister requested a “time-out” until Monday to prepare measures through which a solution could be found, while HPK believes that Prime Minister Zoran Milanović and Finance Minister Slavko Linić should also be included in the negotiations.

He added that he would inform the membership about what was discussed at today’s meeting, and the proposal is to continue negotiations on Monday, but he does not know what the farmers on the ground will say.

The Ministry of Agriculture, on the other hand, announced that the meeting on Monday will discuss possible models of relief and concrete measures to assist agricultural producers.

They emphasize that Minister Jakovina “understands the problems of agricultural producers to the greatest extent possible” and explained at today’s meeting that nearly 2.4 billion kuna in subsidies has already been paid out, significantly earlier than in all previous years.

“The ministry has paid out as much money as was available in the budget. Producers must be aware of the moment in which the state budget finds itself. The subsidy is not the farmers’ salary, which is why a false image of agricultural producers is being created in public. A smaller portion of producers is protesting, while the largest portion of producers is honestly doing their job,” Jakovina emphasized, as reported in the statement.

He reiterated that protests, pressures, and blackmail are not a way to solve problems and will not yield results, especially during the tourist season and at a time when disrupting any economic activity brings new damage and losses to the state budget, and thus to agricultural producers.

Brlošić reiterated in a statement to reporters that no sector in the country has had its budget cut as much as agriculture, noting that they asked the minister to remind the prime minister of the promise he made when he was in Slavonia – that he would not forget Slavonia.

35 percent less in subsidies has been paid out, and agriculture is in disaster without that money. We expect the minister to prepare solutions for Monday, and we would like both the prime minister and the finance minister to appear, said Brlošić.

The President of the HPK Committee for Associations, Stjepan Kunovec, emphasized that it is a pity that no concrete solution was reached today, as the minister did not have an answer to the question about securing the funds needed for the full payment of subsidies, which amounts to over 450 million kuna.

He also mentioned that a meeting with representatives of wheat buyers should be held on Monday to discuss the purchase price, as the price currently offered, of 1.05 kuna per kilogram, is unacceptable and has real grounds for correction upwards.