“I believe we have possibilities to improve the situation. These are initial proposals which, as far as I know, are not official. They do not satisfy us and that gives us more ambition for the negotiations, to step up and improve our preparations to submit proposals to the European Commission it would be hard to reject if we have in mind added value we could create if those payments were more equal,” Surplys told BNS Lithuania.
The EC suggest increasing direct payments to Lithuanian farmers from 60 to 80 percent of the EU average.
Lithuania’s Ministry of Agriculture estimates direct payments for a hectare of farming land in Lithuania will be 187 euros on average at the end of the current EU budget, standing at 72 percent of the EU average of 260 euros.