Brussels approved nearly 170 million euros to support Bulgarian farmers.
"If we don't know what lands and animals are distributed, we have no way to judge. Bulgaria cultivates 50 million acres of land and we have approximately 2 million animals. If we take these amounts and spread them over the land and the animals we have, we realize that it is pennies per acre.
This was stated by the former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and leader of "Edinenie" Ivan Hristanov in "The Day ON AIR".
According to him, it is terrible that this money is being talked about as salvation.
"The country with the richest land in Europe, with the best climate has fallen to the point that the EU must approve us 150-160 million BGN as a kind of lifeline. We continue to eat imported products, we continue to not export enough. Until we use our land effectively, until we turn the wealth of the land into the wealth of farmers in a positive context, we will continue to eat imported tomatoes," Hristanov told Bulgaria ON AIR.
"When we wrote the strategic plan in 2022, we were one of the last countries, it was delayed by previous administrations. For the first time in the 15-year history of Bulgaria, we pledged the money for investments in agriculture, not subsidies. We became the third country in a row for national co-financing. We set a visionary move. This means that all administrations after us must be visionaries", insisted the former Deputy Minister of Agriculture.
As another problem, besides the lack of vision, he singled out corruption.
"In many places we turned off the tap and it was felt immediately. I can go anywhere and talk to a medium, small, small, family producer, I'm not being chased with sticks anywhere. It had an effect, but it didn't last," commented Hristanov.
Regarding the Ukrainian aid, he reminded that the European policy is to direct the money to the medium and small farmers, not to the big ones. Regarding the money for investments in the municipalities, he emphasized that he observes with irony the bold requests.
"Not a single corruption scheme, not a single channel, approach, was closed from the middle of 2022. It does not matter which municipality this money will be given to,'' Hristanov summarized.