The opposition Most party on Tuesday spoke against the planned reduction of direct payments to farmers from European Union funds, and called for new measures to help the sector, including scholarships for students enrolled in agriculture studies and vocational schools, as well as cutting taxes in the farming industry.

“Our farmers are mostly interested in direct payments, that is in grants, and if those subsidies are cut, it will cause trouble in farming,” said Most lawmaker Tomislav Panenic, who chairs the parliamentary agriculture committee.

“During the economic crisis in 2010, the funding earmarked in the state budget for agriculture totalled 3.5 billion kuna (€471.7 million), and currently those funds are about 1 billion kuna (€134.8 million.),” Panenic said in a news conference.

Last year, the European Commission approved 2.3 billion kuna (€310 million) of funds which made up the difference. However, it is key how those funds are being transferred into the farming sector, Panenic said.

“It is clear that Croatia’s agriculture cannot fare well without direct support. It is the duty of our government, ministers and our deputies in the European Parliament to see to it that direct payments to Croatian farmers be reduced by as little as possible,” Panenic said.

Another Most MP, Sonja Cikotic, presented some concerning figures about Croatia’s agriculture, saying that a mere 6 percent of owners of agricultural businesses and farms are younger than 30, and only 10 percent are under 40 years of age.

In addition, statistics about low enrolment in agriculture studies at Croatia’s universities are devastating, Cikotic said. For example, in Zagreb there are still 148 vacant places for students, and Osijek’s agriculture faculty has 180 vacant places for freshmen this year.

Implying that these numbers point to the general lack of interest in farming by younger generations of Croatians, Cikotic said that a sharp turnaround in farming education was needed, which would include setting up a scholarship fund to work as an incentive for students to go into this profession.

Last week, the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) and the Agriculture Ministry said they are concerned over the proposed new European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the next 2021-27 EU budget, which includes cuts in funding for Croatian farmers. They also called for the proposed cuts to be postponed until 2023.

Under the current proposal by the European Commission, presented in June, the funds allocated to Croatia for the next seven-year budget period would total €4.035 billion from CAP, or €4.544 billion if inflation is taken into account, with slightly more funding intended to go to direct payments to farmers, and slightly less for rural development.

The European Commission has also proposed three new regulations related to direct payments, measures for the development of rural areas, and ways of establishing a common organisation of markets and quality control schemes for farming products and foodstuffs – with all three intended to be adopted no later than 2020.

The HGK vice-chairman responsible for agriculture, Dragan Kovacevic, said that the proposed CAP reform contained a radical overhaul, including an overall 5 percent budget cut. He added that in the 2021-27 period, Croatia would receive €70 million less per year for direct payments to farmers and rural development.

He said that, when it comes to Croatia, overall funding for direct payments would be cut by 4 percent in the new budget, and for rural development measures by 15 percent. In terms of annual envelopes, funds for direct payments would drop from the current €382.6 million to €367.7 million per year, while funds for rural development would be cut from €332.2 million to €281.3 million.

(€1 = 7.42 kuna)

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.