Loading ...Romanian authorities will have to act quickly to avoid the activation of the safeguard clause in agriculture, European Commissioner For Multilingualism Leonard Orban said on October 10 in Brussels.
„It is very important for Romanian authorities to act at full speed and efficiency in the time ahead so as to avoid the European Commission activating the safeguard clause in Agriculture, which would mean curtailing by 110 million euros the funds earmarked to Romania. There is still one month left for the situation to be remedied and I hope the situation will eventually be mended,” said Orban.
Orban's statement came after the European Commission warned Romania to mend the deficiencies detected in the payment system for farmers.
Orban also said that the October 10 decision of the European Commission has both a negative aspect, in that it highlights the risk of Romania's EU farm subsidies being temporarily cut by 25 percent, and a positive aspect, in that Romania has one month to mobilise technical, financial and human resources for successful application of direct payment regulations in the field of agriculture.
If Romania fails to improve its administrative and control system before proceeding with making payments to farmers, it will risk seeing its farm subsidies from the European Union cut by 25 percent. The European Commission sent a letter to Romania in which it highlights the risk, and is waiting for a reply by November 9. The European Commission says if Romania does not improve the situation by that date, it will consider taking a decision to reduce the grants to Romania in the shortest delay. If the deficiencies are eliminated, the Commission will dispatch a new audit mission to assess the progress recorded in the first part of 2008.
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