Agriculture minister tells protesting farmers there are limits to what government can do

Over 3,000 farmers are staging a major protest action in Prague on Thursday disrupting traffic and spreading manure outside the Office of the Government. Like their European counterparts they are protesting against rising costs, heavy regulation, cheap goods from Ukraine and the EU's Green Deal.

Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný said in reaction to the protests that the government is aware of the serious problems farmers face, but that it will not act under pressure. He said the government had met some of their demands to the extent that the budget allowed and was ready to negotiate further, but warned that there were limits to what the government could do.

Ahead of the protests the government announced plans to increase funding to support animal welfare at livestock farms this year and will next year support rural employment with CZK 2 billion in social insurance discounts for farm workers.