Several hundred farmers protested in Čakovec and Đakovo to show solidarity with their European counterparts and inform the public about the problems facing Croatian farmers.
“This was a warning protest where we wanted to support our European colleagues but also point out the problems faced by Croatian farmers. I would say that 80% of our problems result from changes in the EU’s CAP, while the remaining 20% refers to Croatia itself,” Mato Brlošić, a member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Agriculture, told Euractiv.
He added that Croatian farmers “are not even aware“ of what changes in the CAP bring them.
Brlošić cited a significant reduction in subsidies, uncontrolled imports of agricultural products from Ukraine, and trade liberalisation with Mercosur as the main problems.
Among the problems facing Croatian farmers, Brlošić cited issues with allocating agricultural land and the increasing bureaucratisation of business.
“In the last 10 or so years, we have had a strong growth of ‘green options’, which ask the EC and national governments to introduce ‘green policy’ into agriculture. Unfortunately, they succeed in this. On the other hand, the EU does not follow these requests financially, so we have a financial envelope for the 2023-2027 period reduced by 15%, which is a lot for us. At the same time, a lot of money intended for farmers is spent on building kindergartens, forest protection, and other functions from which farmers do not benefit,” said Brlošić.
Despite this, the HPK, the umbrella organisation of Croatian farmers, failed to decide at its meeting last week to launch mass farmer protests. Instead, the HPK drew up a list of ten demands, which it sent to the government, saying it would organise a mass protest if no agreement was reached.
The HPK also said it was looking forward to the European farmers’ umbrella organisation, Copa Cogeca, meeting on Friday. The meeting will decide whether there will be a general protest by farmers across the EU.
HPK’s decision to organise farmers’ protests in Croatia will depend on the outcome of this meeting, Brlošić told Euractiv.
Instead of a big protest, some Croatian farmers held a mini-protest on Monday. According to Brlošić and media reports, the protest in Đakovo attracted around 200 protesters, while the protest in Čakovec attracted around 300.
Brlošić says that he believes the farmers sent “a clear message” and have no plans to continue the protests in the coming days.
According to 2022 data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS), agriculture accounts for only 3.1% of Croatia’s gross domestic product (GDP). Most of Croatia’s GDP is generated by services, especially tourism, as well as by industry.
However, this share is significantly higher than the EU average, which, according to Eurostat data, is only 1.4% in 2022.
Small and fragmented farms, insufficient adaptation to new technologies and dependence on subsidies are typical of Croatian agriculture. As a result, despite its large potential for food production and a long export tradition, Croatia is now a major food importer.
According to DZS data for the first 11 months of last year, Croatia imported food and live animals worth over €4.2 billion, which is 19.6% more than in the same period in 2022. At the same time, it exported food and live animals worth €2.6 billion, which is 5.8% more than in the first 11 months of 2022.
A major problem in Croatian agriculture is the mass emigration of Croatian citizens to other member states, which has led to labour shortages.
(Adriano Milovan | Euractiv.hr)
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