Croatia has many advantages from EU membership, as confirmed by the adoption of the EU budget which guarantees €24.5 billion in the next seven years, but for Croatian farmers it also means that older member states' market surpluses end on the Croatian market at dumping prices, MP Marijana Petir has said.

She was speaking in a debate on the future of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Croatia’s adjustment to reforms, organised in Zagreb last Tuesday by the European Parliament’s Croatian office in cooperation with the Croatian parliament’s Agriculture Committee, which Petir chairs.

She said that after the adoption of the Multiannual Financial Framework, an important part of the €24.5 billion envisaged for Croatia from 2021 to 2027 was the €5 billion envisaged for the CAP.

“But there’s the other side of the coin and one should say that Croatian farmers have been faced with many challenges since Croatia joined the EU.”

According to Petir, it is difficult for them to keep up with farmers in other member states due to internal reasons and the conditions on the single European market.

We realise that we have to resolve the problem of farmland management on our own, but we believe that the same rules should equally apply to all those participating in the single market, she said.

“It’s neither sustainable nor just that older member states’ market surpluses end on new member states’ markets at dumping prices because that destroys our producers and they are faced with insurmountable differences.”

Also, Petir said, the EU should pay attention to relations with third countries, reviewing trade agreements to make sure that imports meet all EU standards.