The Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation (AAC) is requesting urgent approval from the Ministry of Finance on the draft Government emergency ordinance that will allow farmers access to diesel fuel without VAT and excise duty, the support being considered “a breath of fresh air” for agricultural businesses hit by the wave of price increases since the end of the year for agricultural inputs, fertilizers, and agricultural equipment, according to a statement from the organization, sent to Agerpres on Monday.

“We also call on Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan to support and approve, this week, the urgent adoption of this normative act essential for the economic survival of Romanian farmers. On behalf of the farmers that our organizations represent, we welcome the public debate, at the end of last week, of the draft Government Emergency Ordinance (GEO) on temporary measures for the vegetable sector, in order to manage the effects of the increase in diesel prices,” the statement reads.

According to the cited source, the adoption of the normative act developed at the level of the Ministry of Agriculture must represent an urgency for the Romanian Government, since any delay in its application renders the effects of the measures null and void.

“Farmers need support now, when they are in the midst of the spring agricultural campaign, a short period in which multiple agricultural works that require high consumption of diesel are concentrated: fertilization, plant protection treatments, sowing. We believe that, just as the regulatory act for capping the commercial addition to fuel was quickly adopted, the same process must be followed for the regulatory act dedicated to diesel used in the agricultural sector,” argues the AAC.

The farmers also emphasize that, in the proposed form, the GEO will only be applicable to the crop sector and propose extending the measure to livestock, on the same functional system in the case of diesel excise settlement through the Payment and Intervention Agency for Agriculture (APIA).

“AAC distances itself from any attempt to politicize this initiative, we are not interested in the war between the parties in the Coalition, what we want is for Romanian farmers to be protected, at least in part, from the effects of the cascading price increases of production costs in agriculture. We believe that whoever was the Minister of Agriculture would initiate such a draft GEO, whoever was the Minister of Finance would approve the normative act, and whoever was the Prime Minister would urgently adopt this initiative. It is not about parties, names or political games here, it is about the food security of Romanians!”, they said.

AAC recalls that the proposed support does not represent state aid granted to farmers, as it does not involve any expenditure from the national budget. Under existing legislation, excise duty on diesel and VAT are returned to farmers, but currently this settlement is delayed and leads to a financial blockage of agricultural businesses. Thus, for example, farmers still have to recover excise duty on diesel for the third and fourth quarters of last year.