The Ciolacu Cabinet, put under pressure by farmers and transporters

The agreements signed by the employers' organizations of farmers and transporters with the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Transport, following the negotiations of the last few days, are not enough for the majority of those protesting in most counties of the country, who believe that their actions in the street must continue until they see that the authorities implement what they promised. Their displeasure was expressed yesterday after Dănuţ Andruş, one of the leaders of the protestors, stood against the employers' associations that agreed on various points with the relevant ministries.

Dănuţ Andruş declared: "We do not respond to provocations, we are peaceful, we apologize to those to whom we cause this national discomfort because it is a national problem and our requests do not refer only to our demands. There are requirements that concern the common population as well. I think we are all affected by this RCA price for the cars we each drive, we are affected by the fiscal measures that have been put on the heads of Romanians, we are affected by the low standard of living in Romania and this government must work, not resign. Whoever resigns from the government in this crisis situation will only show cowardice in front of the people, because in 34 years they have led you through these divisions that you do with the professional associations. These professional associations have given up on us, and now they are calling the farmers in the street, that they have solved it. From our point of view, these demands of the farmers and partly of the transporters at the Ministry of Transport were claimed on Saturday. They did nothing but copy-paste those claims, to assume them, which is immoral and incorrect".

That is why farmers and transporters claim that they will not leave the streets until the Government presents concrete and immediate solutions, which will be legislated.

A press release issued by the protestors' leaders states: "We welcome the Government's efforts to initiate tripartite social dialogue between employers, employers' organizations and local and central public administration authorities. In this sense, we express our desire to actively participate in these discussions, emphasizing that the farmers and transporters present in the streets on this seventh day of spontaneous protest want to be an integral part of the process of solving the problems reported to the Government and the authorities. It is important to emphasize that as farmers and transporters we are not here to negotiate, but to get solutions and solutions to the problems we face. We reject the idea that these actions could be interpreted as negotiations, but are a firm approach to finding concrete and immediate solutions. We reiterate our thanks for opening the dialogue and express our hope that the discussions will lead to effective measures to improve the living and working conditions of farmers and transporters in Romania. We will continue the protests in a peaceful and civilized way, (...) until we see the first normative act to find applicable solutions to solve as many problems as possible, solutions that we do not want to see with a negative impact from an economic and social".

During this time, Siret Customs was blocked yesterday by Romanian transporters to prevent the access of Ukrainian tires to the territory of our country, but in another part of the country the farmers gave up their protest, leaving free circulation. It is about Tulcea county, where farmers and transporters planned to block traffic on the road bridge over the Danube from Brăila, but suspended any protest action after Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu declared that the Government is undertaking the search for quick solutions to the claims the protesters.

Regarding the transporters' protest, the employers' confederations and federations - Concordia, CNIPMMR, COTAR, FORT and ARTRI - signed an agreement yesterday with Minister Sorin Grindeanu and other representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, a document which stipulates that the respective ministry will on the part of the transporters in the proceedings that fall under the competence of the ASF, the MAI, the Ministry of Finance and the Romanian Customs Authority for the settlement of claims regarding the value of RCA policies, the allowance for food and accommodation, the excise duty related to diesel, new crossing points dedicated to the transport of goods to streamline traffic from our country to non-EU states, reducing waiting times at EU and non-EU borders, returning to the tolerance of 4% on the axle, 5% on the total weight and the tolerances applied when exceeding the maximum allowed dimensions. Also, Minister Sorin Grindeanu and his subordinates pledged that they will act immediately to eliminate "piracy" from road transport and that they will amend the legislation on alternative transport.

According to some sources cited by the representatives of employers' confederations, those agreed with the Minister of Transport represent only part of the demands of the transporters who have been protesting for more than a week on the streets of our country.

The problems of farmers and transporters in our country, as well as their colleagues in the European Union, have been put on the table of the European Parliament and they need a unitary solution from the institutions in Brussels, claim the European deputies from our country.

The vice-president of the EPP, Siegfried Mureşan, rapporteur of the European Parliament on the EU budget, stated yesterday in a post on the official Facebook page: "Today I asked the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the plenary session of the European Parliament, to put the issue of European farmers on the agenda Council and treat it as a priority. We see that farmers in Romania and in many European countries are worried, they are taking to the streets and waiting for support. Farmers have always been a priority for the European Union and it must be so now."

For his part, Daniel Buda, European deputy from the PNL side, said:

"The unpredictability in the near future makes more and more farmers give up this activity (...), not to mention the ridiculous prices of only 2.2 or 2.5 lei per liter of milk, as well as the lack of labor. That is precisely why the people protesting must be understood and listened to, because I guarantee you that no one came "for good" from Botoşani, by tractor, to Bucharest, from Leipzig to Berlin or from Strasbourg to Paris. (...) European funds, although indisputably represent a significant support, however, currently, the level of co-financing required for these projects has increased to 35-40%. This aspect can become a limiting factor for any farmer, even if these funds are essential for the implementation of agricultural projects. It's complicated to take on such financing quotas, given that you don't know what the price of milk or a kilogram of meat will be tomorrow, or if another "pipeline" with grain from Ukraine breaks on the Romanian market, and you have nowhere to sell the production".

Social-democratic European deputy Dan Nica stated that the huge losses suffered by Romanian carriers are caused by the fact that Austria opposed Romania's accession to the Schengen Area. Dan Nica asked in the plenary session of the European Parliament to stop the abuses and humiliations experienced by Romanian transporters and requested, as a matter of urgency, the identification of financial sources for their compensation.