2 000 Bulgarian Farmers Got Illicit Milk Subsidies since 2008

Over 2 000 Bulgarian farmers have received unauthorized milk subsidies totally BGN 2 M since the fall of 2008.

This was revealed Sunday by the Bulgarian Deputy Agriculture Minister, Tsvetan Dimitrov, as cited by the Bulgarian National Television.

The subsidies were paid to farmers who had stopped to produce milk earlier; the former team of the Agriculture Ministry did not inspect whether the persons getting the subsidies were actually milk producers, according to Dimitrov.

The subsidies were paid on the basis of milk producing quotas. The Deputy Minister explained that under EU law a farmer is entitled to their quotas for 2 years even if they were not producing milk but in this case they would not be entitled to subsidies.

Dimitrov also said the Ministry was going to take measures to bring about the functioning of an actual milk quotas exchange. At the present moment, milk quotas can be sold at the fixed prices of BGN 0,1 per liter, and the farmer who have the quotas but have stopped to produce milk are unwilling to sell them.

The Ministry is going to ask the EU for additional funds in order to be able to buy out quotas at BGN 0,3-0,4, and then to be able to resell them.

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