Farmers Are Putting Protests on Hold. What’s the Reason?

Last week the farmers announced that they intended to come to Chisinau by farm machinery, but today they have announced their intention to hold a new round of talks. The farmers warned that if their demands were not met this time as well, they would organize a large-scale protest in the capital next Monday. Last Thursday, Dorin Recean paid a visit to Leova and met the farmers who were protesting using agricultural machinery. He offered to resume negotiations and make settlements regarding the distribution of refunds. The farmers protested for two days last week. On Wednesday, more than a thousand farmers rallied on tractors and went on strike on highways in 20 districts of the country. On Thursday, they blocked the traffic lanes on multiple routes and partially Sculeni and Leuseni custom offices. The protests began after talks with the government had failed. The farmers asked the prime minister to sign a memorandum with five demands. In particular, a temporary ban on grain imports from Ukraine, exclusive export of Moldovan products via the Giurgiulesti port, allocation of at least 3000 lei per hectare for wheat, barley and rapeseed production, payment of overdue debts for subsidies from last year and extension of the list of beneficiaries that will get back VAT payments to the current account. The government responded to only a part of these requests, which did not please the farmers. According to Dorin Recean, our country will have to seek financial assistance from abroad in order to solve the problem.