Speaker Dragnea tells Irish PM that Romania doesn't support capping subsidies, payments to Romanian farmers

Romania does not support the capping of subsidies and direct payments to Romanian farmers, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea told visiting Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Tuesday, during a meeting at the Palace of Parliament. 

At the end of the meeting, Dragnea said that the topics discussed included the future of the European Union, the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU next year, the Brexit, as well as the multi-annual financial framework. 

"With regard to the Romanian Presidency, I briefed him on our goals - the same that Mrs. Prime Minister has also presented in Parliament. As for the Brexit, Romania supports Ireland's stance as regards the preservation of peace and stability on the island. As far as the multi-annual financial framework is concerned, a subject where Romania and Ireland may have divergent positions - specifically on the common agricultural policy - Romania does not support the capping of subsidies and direct payments to Romanian farmers because this would deal a devastating blow to Romanian agriculture. Romanian agriculture has only two years ago taken to a positive development trend with the improvement of the ratio between import and export of agri-food products and this would be a terrible blow to Romanian farmers. I explained that it can be a solution for each country to opt for enforcing caps, if they particularly insist on the variant of capping direct payments, and I said this because the EU Commissioner for Agriculture is Irish. We also discussed, and I didn't reject the idea that if this measure is adopted - because several countries oppose it - it be applied optionally. I said that our position cannot be changed because this is about the nation's food security and we cannot accept being disadvantaged for the second time. The first measure that puts us at disadvantage is the difference between the subsidy allowed for Romanian farmers, which is lower than the one in the West," explained the Social Democrat leader.