Minister Plewa plans to get tough with EU over subsidies to agriculture

Deputy minister of agriculture Jerzy Plewa has announced that he will conduct tough negotiations with Brussels over issues such as production limits and direct subsidies to farmers. According to Plewa, who is responsible for negotiations with the European Union (EU) in the area of agriculture, the European Commission's (EC) proposals put forward in April are even less advantageous to farmers than the initial proposal in January. In April the proposals, while being more flexible with regard to funds for developing rural areas, are more rigid as to production limits and direct subsidies for farmers. According to the January proposals, Poland would be offered 25% of the direct subsidies in force in the EU at the moment of accession and reach 100% of subsidies after ten years. "Adopting the EC proposal would deepen the gap between the Fifteen and the candidate countries, added Plewa. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6), M.T.