Baltic parliaments to fight for equal EU CAP subsidies together

TALLINN - The committees dealing with rural development in Baltic States’ parliaments signed a joint declaration in Riigikogu on Thursday, expressing their deep dissatisfaction over inequality in agricultural subsidies paid in different EU Member States, LETA/National Broadcasting reports.

The parliamentary committees support the direction the European Commission has taken to harmonize the subsidy levels, but consider the time-frame for such a move unacceptable and demand implementation of new principles for paying direct subsidies in the Baltic States from the year after the next already.

“We were making war-plans to a certain degree, coordinated the relevant activities between ourselves,” described the chairman of the Riigikogu Committee on Rural Affairs Kalvi Kova. “Chairmen of committees involved with rural development will have joint meetings with other European chairmen of committees of rural development in Copenhagen and in Brussels; we will have to stand for the Baltic interests together,” he added.