EC's proposal on direct payments to Lithuanian farmers "unsatisfying", advisor says

"It's completely unsatisfying as we are far from our ambitions of getting fair and equal payments to all farmers in the European Union. It's not even the start of that equality," he told BNS Lithuania on Tuesday.

In his words, more detailed numbers on direct payments to Lithuanian farmers will be available in June when the EC will present specific proposals to every EU member. Proposals on both direct payments and funding for rural development for Lithuania might change during negotiations with other EU member states.

Lithuania's Ministry of Agriculture estimates direct payments for a hectare of farming land in Lithuania will be 187 euros on average at the end of the current EU budget, standing at 72 percent of the EU average of 260 euros.

Taraškevičius says that based on the initial EK proposal, funding of rural development for Lithuania might also be cut up to 15 percent.

Lithuania should get 5.070 billion euros from the 2014–2020 EU budget, including 3.394 billion euros in direct payments. The country received 3.869 billion euros in 2007–2013, including 2.049 billion euros in direct payments.