The European Commission (EC) Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Mariann Fischer-Boel refused on Tuesday to comply with requests to extend the term for subsidies for tobacco producers. Photo by BGNES
The European Commission (EC) Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Mariann Fischer-Boel refused on Tuesday to comply with requests to extend the term for subsidies for tobacco producers, the Bulgarian Information Agency BTA reported.
Fischer-Boel has stated that there were other ways than subsidies to deal with the financial difficulties.
Eight European Union (EU) countries are considered the main tobacco producers - Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Hungary. All eight insist that the term for the current subsidies is extended to 2013 despite the agreement reached four years ago providing for the subsidies to end in 2010.
It is expected that thousands of tobacco producers, mainly from France, are going to organize a protest rally in Brussels on Wednesday.