Croatian agricultural producers on Thursday welcomed Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic's statement that the government would pay agriculture grants for 2011 it owed to farmers because it was bound by law to do so, as well as his statement that a policy of "clean accounts" was necessary in agriculture.
Stjepan Kunovec of the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture, which organised a two-hour warning protest of farmers earlier in the day, told the press that serious agricultural producers did not support any murky business with government grants and were in favour of controlling agriculture grants as proposed by Milanovic.
"If the Prime Minister's statement about the payment of grants for last year refers to the payment of 2.6-2.8 billion kuna by the end of this month, farmers are very much pleased," Kunovec said.
He said that agricultural producers wanted to meet with PM Milanovic and Agriculture Minister Tihomir Jakovina to discuss forthcoming amendments to the law on farmland, the law on agriculture and the law on agriculture grants.
