We need to seek a balance in co-financing. Economic conditions no longer allow us to have no co-financing of the 1st pillar, as it was the political assertion in the last two programming periods. This was announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forests Rumen Porozhanov at a meeting with the agricultural branch where they presented the results of the online questionnaire of the European Commission on the future of the common agricultural policy (CAP). He pointed out that the debate had begun, but it is important to build a unified position to be presented to the EC. The balance of the co-financing rules is important because the different countries have a different budget and the aim is to ensure that all beneficiaries are fairly supported.

The support concerns you - the business representatives, and it is good that based on our conversations over the past few months, it is clear that we have no fundamental differences. We will use your opinions and recommendations, Minister Porozhanov added.

The study on the future of the CAP was conducted between 2 February and 2 May 2017, based on an online questionnaire. 322,916 standpoints have been sent (including from some large public companies), 1,423 joint positions were sent. The online questionnaire was completed 58 520 times, from 21 386 farmers (36.5%), 27 893 other citizens (47.7%), 9241 organizations (15.8%). It is encompassing private companies, public authorities, professional organizations, non-governmental organizations and platforms, scientific and academic circles. In Bulgaria the questionnaire was completed 956 times, 0.3%, with 141 answers from farmers.

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