EU Agriculture commissioner rules out faster subsidy change

Czech and other farmers from new EU member states will have to wait until 2013 with lower subsidies compared with counterparts from older members, Commissioner for Agriculture Mariann Fischer-Boel has said in an interview in Monday’s Hospodářské noviny. She said she did not think a change before that date was possible. The subsidy differential was one of the main reasons for a massive protest by around 8,000 farmers in Prague on Thursday. The farmers want a faster change in agricultural payment rules so they can catch up sooner with subsidies in older member states.