Lapar: Farmers demand that authorities initiate normative acts to stop sale of farmland to foreigners
The League of Associations of Agricultural Producers in Romania (LAPAR) quoted by Agerpres has demanded that authorities initiate a set of normative acts to stop the sale of farmland to foreigners since over one million ha have already been sold to foreigners, and other two million ha are leased out to the same category.
2014-05-16 13:28:57
"I cannot finish this topic without reminding the authorities that the land is the main means of production, is a national asset that must not be sold. Over one million have already been sold to foreigners, and other two million are leased out to the same category. Through the preemption right established through the recently-adopted law, considered by most Romanians antinational, also the leased areas will soon become the property of the current lessees," LAPAR president Laurentiu Baciu told within the latest National Conference of Farmers.
He believes that legislation should be revised so that "the land should remain in the exclusive ownership of Romanians," whoever farms it.
"We demand that the authorities initiate a set of normative acts to stop the sale of farmland to foreigners and protect Romanian farmers and the Romanian capital. In the current situation, Romanian farmers cannot benefit from free access to capital to enable them to consolidate the land market. Competition on an open land market in Romania is definitely a disadvantage for them," mentioned Baciu.
Romania deregulated its land market on January 1, 2014, according to the obligations in the Accession Treaty to the European Union, which allows individuals in the EU to buy farmland in the country, a process which altered the regime having existed until the end of 2013, when only legal entities had the right to buy land.
In order to restrict transactions in farmland outside villages, the Ministry of Agriculture initiated a draft law that has been promulgated by President Basescu this year, after several changes on the preemption right of the Romanian state in the case of land sale and the situation of the ADS.
Agriculture Minister Daniel Constantin mentioned, in mid-April, that the final form of the law on deregulating the land market is much simplified for citizens, and for transparency, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) has created a platform with all farmland transactions to which all citizens can have access.
The LAPAR organized on Thursday, in Bucharest, the National Conference of Farmers, in the presence of over 750 nationwide participants — LAPAR representative members. Attending the event were also Romania′s President Traian Basescu and Agriculture Minister Daniel Constantin.
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