Agricultural lands “sold only to Romanian citizens”

The agricultural lands in Romania are not to be sold to citizens from other states, according to the Minister of Agriculture, Valeriu Tabără, because, this way, the new owners, who are not Romanian, gain nothing and the big international companies gain everything.

Valeriu Tabără stated on Monday, during a meeting with the members of the Permanent Bureau of the Senate, that he was against that kind of transactions, which, up until that moment, had added up to approximately 800 thousand from the total of 9 million hectares.

During a meeting about the future agricultural policy of the European Union, the Minister of Agriculture was asked to submit proposals that should be included in the next negotiations with the IMF representatives, so that the Romanian producers could apply for cheaper loans.

The Minister of Agriculture, Valeriu Tabără, stated, during the meeting with the representatives of the Permanent Bureau of the Senate, that he was against the idea of selling agricultural lands to foreign citizens.

Valeriu Tabără reminded that starting with 1993 many lands were sold that way. On the other hand, the chairman of agriculture stated that a draft legislative act on fining owners who do not clean their lands was developed.

“The lands which have been sold to foreign citizens after 1990, in Romania, add up to 800 thousand hectares. Today, I vote against selling lands to non-Romanian citizens and I will continue being against it.”

“Romania was not prepared for a normal land market and, thus, a lot was lost, but we have established the draft legislative act on fining those who do not clean their lands”, Valeriu Tabără said.

The problems Romanian farmers are facing discussed with the IMF and the World Bank

On the other hand, the President of the Senate, Mircea Geoană, declared that he would debate with the representatives of the IMF and World Bank in Romania the problems that the Romanian farmers were facing.

Therefore, Mircea Geoană has asked the Minister of Agriculture, Valeriu Tabără, for an official document for the meeting with the IMF representatives.

“I ask for your official point of view, before the visit of the International Monetary Fund delegation, in order to be able to see, during the debate with our international financial partners, what other measures we might take into consideration. I am, primarily, referring to the possibility of subsidising the interest for those who apply for loans for agriculture, including for co-financing.

The rate of interest is very high, for many of those who want to obtain European funds the cost of the bank loan is excessive, it kills the capacity to finance these projects”, Mircea Geoană stated.

The draft of the EU agricultural reform will be presented on Wednesday by Commissary Dacian Cioloş in the European Parliament plenum and on Thursday and Friday in Bucharest.

Translated by: Anca Pavel
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University