BRATISLAVA, December 22, (WEBNOVINY) — Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Zsolt Simon (MOST-HID) considers 2010 the most complicated year since the country’s entry into the European Union. In his assessment of the year that is about to end, the minister writes that the farming sector will produce a loss due to several disasters including floods and last but not at least also due to the non-conceptual management of the ministry in the era of the previous government of Robert Fico.
Simon considers the biggest success of his term so far the adoption of changes in the restitution law, which was also anchored in the government program statement and which represents a fundamental systemic change in the issue of land restitutions. Another important step is the payout of EUR 355 million to farmers, the sum, which covered 89 percent of their applications this year. Simon sees as his further success the signature of a declaration concerning reform of the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU signed by seven EU members. The objective of the reform is to remove the historical principle of distributing subsidies, which should be replaced by other non-biased criteria, preserve the two-pillar system and within it to maintain flat payments for farmland area.
The minister expects that next year will be challenging for farmers who have to get ready for considerable changes in the farm sector as of 2013. The state provides hundreds of millions of euros for their support and has the right to require fulfillment of society-related goals including quality care of rural areas, maintenance and development of employment, production of foodstuffs and energy commodities on full use of nature’s potential. He expects that farmers will get adjusted to a new farming practice and will no longer limit their activities to food production but will fully use the country where they perform their activities. The minister believes that arable land should be massively used for cattle, since animal production is closely linked with creation of further jobs and rural development.
SITA