On the behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, the Activity Information was presented by State Secretary Velimir Stanojevic and the head of the Directorate for Agrarian Payments Zarko Radat.

State Secretary Velimir Stanojevic, said that, among other things, in the reporting period the amendments and modifications to the Law on Agriculture and Rural Development, Law on Stimulation of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Water Law were passed which should make it considerably easier for agricultural producers to use the available European funds in the field. The Ministry also commenced talks on IPARD 2, for the purpose of which Minister Branislav Nedimovic visited Brussels in November 2016. The Republic of Serbia 2017 Budget adopted in December allocates 8% more funds for agriculture than last year, and out of the around 44 billion RSD which is the Ministry’s budget for this year, 86% is ear-marked for subsidies and stimulation packages for agricultural producers. The Governmental ordinance on the allocation of stimulation funds, in addition to the existing measures, introduces new ones such as the purchase of fruit and vineyard tractors and start-up support for young farmers to allow them to use state subsidies to set up agricultural households and strengthen the areas they live in. Stanojevic also said that the Ministry had recognized the problems with taxes and contributions, and farmers’ healthcare, and Minister Nedimovic had launched talks with the heads of competent institutions to resolve them.

Speaking of the ice-related problems on Serbia’s rivers resulting from the recent freeze wave, Stanojevic said that the help of Hungarian icebreakers which worked above and beyond the scope of the two countries’ bilateral agreement to jointly best tackle these problems, was extremely useful.

In the debate the Committee members hoped that this year will see a solution to the agricultural producers’ tax and contributions debts, protection in the purchase of agricultural land and work on utilizing available potentials to develop Serbia’s least developed areas.

Following the discussion the Committee adopted the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Activity Information for the period 1 September – 31 December 2016 by majority vote, and forwarded it to the National Assembly for ruling.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Marijan Risticevic, and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Zvonimir Djokic, Veroljub Matic, Tijana Davidovac, Milija Miletic, Marko Gavrilovic, Radovan Jancic, Arpad Fremond, Dragan Jovanovic, Marjana Maras, Goran Bogdanovic, Nada Lazic, MA Marko Milenkovic, Prof. Dr Miladin Sevarlic and Nenad Bozic.