Livestock Breeders Call National Protest June 16

The Union of Cattle Breeders called Friday a national protest on June 16 to express disgruntlement with institutional indifference to problems in the sector.

It announced the event after another organization representing stock breeders staged a 10-minute demonstration near the south-western town of Dupnitsa.

About 200 breeders and growers sealed off the European route E79 which links the north-east of Hungary to Greece's Aegean sea coast via Romania and Bulgaria.

They demanded to be transferred the "de minimis" state aid, which has been delayed for months, and also that a mechanism be developed to extend deadlines for their debts to the State Fund Agriculture.

Farmers and breeders argue that the government has not made any kind of response to their demands since April this year.

Agriculture Minister Dimitar Grekov told Focus News Agency that the problems addressed by protesters were not common to the entire sector.

Other ministry officials declared later on Friday that that the National Association of Farmers and Breeders, the organization that had staged the demonstration, was just a regional one and could not represent the sector on a national level.