Romanian Farmers Disappointed With Govt Decision Diesel Fuel Excises

“The sum allotted by the Government is too small to significantly reduce the price of diesel fuel used in agriculture, which is currently the highest in Europe,” the farmers’ association said in a statement.

Agriculture minister Dacian Ciolos said Thursday that the excise duties for diesel fuel used in agriculture would be lowered by 0.65 lei (EUR1=RON3.5705), for a quantity of 48 liters per hectare, and the government allotted RON100 million in this year’s second budget revision to support the reduction in excise duties.

"I know farmers were expecting a more significant cut and I hope we’ll be able to achieve that later on,” Ciolos added.

LAPAR considers that finance minister Varujan Vosganian did not keep his commitments to farmers when he decided to lower the excise.

"The Finance Ministry and minister Varujan Vosganian continue to express contempt toward farmers by purposefully ignoring the agreement we had in May this year, to come up ways to further negotiate a reduction in diesel fuel prices,” LAPAR said in the statement.

In May, LAPAR submitted a proposal for a cut in diesel fuel excises to EUR21/1,000 liters from EUR275/1,000 liters.

LAPAR requested Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu to meet again to discuss the problems in the agriculture sector.

Excise duties for diesel fuel increased on Jan 1 by 5.6%, to EUR325/ton, or EUR274.6/1,000 liters.