Bulgarian Farmers Hit By Russia Sanctions May Expect Compensations Totaling EUR 398 000

Fruit and vegetable growers in Bulgaria may expect compensations of up to EUR 398 000 from the EU for the losses incurred as a result of the sanctions imposed on Russia and the country's response to that policy, according to Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev.

Donchev explained Friday in Parliament that the applications of Bulgarian agricultural producers had amounted to a total of EUR 1.4 B but the EU had only approved a sum that was around five times smaller.

Responding to a question of Volen Siderov, leader of nationalist party Ataka, Donchev made clear that the EU had not created a special financial instrument for supporting agricultural producers who had suffered losses from the Russian embargo.

He added that Russia's response to the policy had caused even greater losses by banning the import of certain types of goods from EU Member States, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

Donchev informed that Bulgaria had exported to Russia goods worth EUR 527 M in 2014, or 2.4% of the country's total export.

He said that in the first two months of 2015 Bulgaria's exports as a whole had dropped by 7% on the year, while exports to Russia had fallen by 35%.

Donchev made clear that the rates of export were relatively low, at around EUR 77 M for 2013 and EUR 53 M in 2014.

Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister noted that export of agricultural products to Russia stood at USD 70 M for the entire 2013.

Donchev expressed the hope that tensions in Ukraine would de-escalate soon so that the sanctions would be abolished.