Negotiations between farmers and government reach no consensus, protests continue (update)

After the blockades, the lit straw and the tonnes of spilled milk, the government and the farmers sat at the negotiating table on February 7. The talks lasted for nearly four hours and, although progress was made, the signing of the memorandum did not happen. The protests continue tomorrow.

The meeting of the farmers with the government, at which they discussed the memorandum proposed by the Denkov cabinet, ended without consensus. The farmers said that their protests would continue at least until Friday, when there would be new talks. Before the meeting, there was tension and division between the different agrarian associations.

At 18:00, representatives of the various agrarian and farmers associations arrived for a meeting with the Prime Minister. Half an hour after the start, some of the farmers walked out.

"We went in, we saw that there were organisations at the meeting that were neither protesting at the moment nor had anything to do with our demands. You know which people are protesting - these people have purely political demands, so we asked to disassociate ourselves," said Ilia Prodanov, National Grain Producer Association.

Thus, divided and after exchanging sharp remarks, the Bulgarian Farmers Union was the first to meet the Prime Minister. However, no discussion of the memorandum took place.

The Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber were second to enter the meeting. The authorities and farmers have agreed on 150 million in support for the sectors of meat, milk, fruit and vegetables, honey, oil-bearing rose, tobacco and vineyards, the Council of Ministers said. No consensus has been reached on the financial part of the memorandum.

Images by Dessislava Kulelieva

The next negotiations between the farmers and the government are scheduled for Friday afternoon, until then the protests and blockades will continue.

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