Bulgarian farmers stage protest, demand agriculture minister to resign

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – A group of Bulgarian farmers staged a protest rally to demand for the agriculture minister and his staff to resign, state news agency BTA reported.

The demonstrators insisted on immediate payment of overdue compensation for the damage inflicted by the war in Ukraine, which significantly increased the cost of husbandry or agriculture.

They were holding signs which said: "Farmers Are Humiliated", "Grave Digger Vatev, Resign", and "We Don't Want Powdered Milk in Our Cheese! We Don't Want Deep-frozen Meat in Our Sausages!"

The protesters were invited to meet with a deputy minister, because Vatev was out of town. They, however, declined to send representatives into the ministry building and asked the deputy minister to come out instead.

Later commenting on the protest, Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev said everything possible was done for farmers, and the protesters have raised impossible demands.

"The problem is that a handful of people want us to violate an EU regulation. We cannot violate the regulation, because we will be punished for that,” he said.