ČTK: EU cuts in agriculture sector see substantial revision

The Czech news agency ČTK has reported that funding cuts in the agriculture sector planned by the European Commission have undergone substantial revision and will not be nearly as strict as originally proposed. Under the original plan, large farms receiving more than 300,000 euros a year stood to lose 45 percent of funding. Citing the latest proposal, ČTK has said the cuts will be far lower: nine percent. The Czech agriculture sector had complained it would be unfairly hit under the previous numbers: for historic reasons, including forced collectivisation in the 1950s, farms in the Czech Republic are often larger enterprises which, Czech officials had argued would suffer a serious disadvantage. The Agriculture Minister Petr Gandalovič said on Friday that changes in the EC’s stance were the result of “months of efforts” by Czech officials heading a coalition of representatives from like-minded countries.