Croatian farmers may soon join their counterparts across the EU who have been organising protests for weeks.
The final decision on the organisation of farmers’ protests in Croatia will be made by the Board of Directors of the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture early next week, the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture (HPK), the umbrella organisation of Croatian farmers, announced on Tuesday. The press release of the HPK reads:
“HPK supports the protests of its European colleagues and agrees with most of the demands that are part of the problems Croatian farmers face. HPK is considering whether Croatian farmers will also join the protests. The decision on this will be made by our sector committees, and then we will discuss this at the meeting of the Board of Directors, which will make the final decision.”
HPK president Mladen Jakopović noted that the meetings of several HPK branch committees have been held in recent days. At these meetings, committee members expressed their willingness to join the protests of their European colleagues. He noted:
“We believe that the demands that are discussed at the protests in the EU are something that we agree with, and they are about problems that the entire EU is facing.”
The former president of HPK and current member of the Board of Directors, Mato Brlošić, told Euractiv:
“According to the new CAP, among other things, we should photograph everything we do. We would, for example, be expected to take pictures of every trip to the field and everything we did there and to send hundreds and thousands of pictures as a condition for receiving support, and we don’t even know if we will get it. Until recently, they said that satellites would do such things. How will farmers do it now, it’s not their job, especially the elderly?”
He also warns of the high demands placed on European agriculture by the EU’s green agenda. European farmers are increasingly banned from using pesticides and herbicides, while at the same time products are imported from other parts of the world where the same criteria do not apply.
European and Croatian farmers are also concerned about the massive import of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products from that country into the EU.
If farmers take to the streets again, it will be the second protest by Croatian farmers in the past few months.
