EU agriculture subsidies were promised for May, still blocked

30/05/2018 20:32

The 71 million EUR fund for agricultural subsidies, part of the EU program called IPARD, should have started by May, but sources said for Top Channel that the experts who will verify the case of applicants have not been qualified yet.

Top Channel asked the EU Delegation in Tirana, who said that the Albanian authorities need to secure a sufficient number of staff members with the necessary qualification and experience.

But the Director of the Agency for Agricultural and Regional Development, Frida Kriifca, the technical requests of the European Directory have already been fulfilled.

“The government fulfilled the requests of DG Agri to hire 10 new staff members. Some of these members resulted successful through DAP, since the AARD is subject of the civil employee law”, Krifca said.

She adds that by the end of summer, the Albanian authorities will be ready to accept applications for new vacancies, but the date for the start of the subsidies will be decided by the European Commission.

Top Channel