2023-11-01 16:51:33
Editorial RoomCurrent Affairs
The glass has overflowed for the livestock breeders of Epirus and beyond, after the last reduced uniform aids given by OPEKEPE and the possibility of legal appeals against the administration or even the Ministry of Rural Development is already being considered.
With the implementation of the new Common Agricultural Policy, a reduction of around 20% was expected in so-called ‘greening’ aid and related subsidies, however the cuts that farmers saw in their bills were much larger than expected, while some received no money at all, with the assessment being that mistakes were made, but also the one-off cut, which should have been made by the end of 2027.
At the same time, the breeders complain about the continued implementation of the technical solution, resulting in subsidies to people with rights without animals, who declare the grazing lands. It is characteristic that in a prefecture of Crete 3 million animals are declared, for which subsidies are received, while in Epirus they amount to approximately 175,000.
The cattle breeders of Epirus, at the invitation of the Union of Mobile Cattle Breeders and the General Agricultural Cooperative of Ioannina “Union of Farmers”, held a meeting in the building of the Region of Epirus, inviting also the regional governor, Alexandros Kahrimanis, as responsible from the Union of Regions of Greece for agricultural issues.
As the breeders emphasize, but Mr. Kahrimanis also made clear in his statements, the situation has reached an impasse and major changes must be made. “Now or never”, stressed Mr. Kahrimanis, noting that he also conveyed the issues to the Prime Minister and assessing that there is the will on the part of the government to change. At the same time, he left hints about the role of the ministry’s executives over time, while he pointed out that the announcement for the Grazing Management Plans of Epirus was cancelled, although it followed the ministry’s model.
The concern of the entire farming world was conveyed by the president of GASI, Haris Liouris, and the president of the Union of Mobile Cattle Breeders, Yiannis Decolis. Mr. Liouris blamed the mistakes and failures on the administration of OPEKEPE and the Ministry, asking for corrections, while he emphasized that as long as the landscape for grazing management plans is not clarified, the problems will remain.
“The subsidies are not for us, but to feed the animals in the winter, to pay for electricity and oil, to live the animals. Animals do not hibernate at all. Some people don’t understand this, it seems, and we’ve reached a dead end,” noted Mr. Dekolis, emphasizing that transparency is required so that producers know in advance what subsidies they are entitled to. “Not like now. We were told about a reduction, but this was not a reduction, it was a catapult for some. To know if we will be able to feed the animals or sell them”, he added.
Regarding the management maps, he reiterated that there is alalum, which favors some, with the result that people with rights without animals get subsidies, and the real breeders do not. “We’ve been saying it for years, nothing has happened. Everyone wants this alalum, to steal and in the end the producer is wronged. We want transparency. Transparency in services. If I declare 700 animals and have 500, I am a thief. If someone from Crete, Thrace or elsewhere declares a grazing area where I graze my animals and he receives the subsidy instead of me, is it a technical solution?”, stressed Mr. Dekolis.
The breeders, however, seem determined to claim solutions immediately and to clarify the landscape for the new CAP, for which there is no information, so they know how they will proceed in the next few years.
It is worth noting that there were reactions throughout the country, after the distribution of the aid in the evening of October 28, while the Minister of Rural Development Lefteris Avgenakis has requested the resignation of the president of OPEKEPE “given the mistakes that were made, which are unjustified”. , as he reported on Monday in Parliament.
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