The news agency ELTA has learned from the communication division of Vilnius City Municipal Council that the Lithuanian Agricultural Council (LŽŪT) on Wednesday requested to extend the permit for its protest indefinitely. Yet the organisers were told that the Law on Meetings does not provide for extending the permit. However, they may apply for a new protest permit four days ahead of its planned date.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė met with representatives of protesting farmers. Chairman of the LŽŪT Ignas Hofmanas afterwards said they were promised that excise duties on fuels used in agriculture would be reviewed and parliament would vote on this. He said that the prime minister also promised to solve the issue concerning the restoration of permanent grassland. According to Hofmanas, this could be done either on the national or European level.
Moreover, Hofmanas told the media that the LŽŪT would summarise meetings with governmental officials to decide if it is satisfied by the outcomes.
However, Jonas Vilionis, president of the Lithuanian Dairy Producers Association (LPGA), said that problems faced by dairy farmers have not been solved and the protest should continue. He said that if problems in the dairy sector were not resolved at an extraordinary parliamentary session, then in two weeks farmers should launch protest campaigns in their districts.
According to Vilionis, issues raised at the farmers’ protest in Vilnius are just “a tip of the iceberg”, whereas authorities have shown little interest in dropping agricultural output and are striving to tax farmers more. He says milk prices have decreased but processors and retailers make substantial profits, whereas last year 10,000 cows were sold from Lithuania to Poland and the number of dairy farmers dropped by 3,000. He added that poultry farming has halved, production by ecological farms has dropped by 30% and “pork producers have almost disappeared”.
As reported, farmers brought around 1,300 tractors to their protest in Vilnius which began on Tuesday. Farmers demand the Government to amend the procedure for restoring permanent grassland so that they would not have to restore it this year. They also call for stopping the transit of Russian grain, bringing back the excise duties on green diesel and liquefied petroleum gas that were in force until 2024, solving the so-called milk crisis by regulating the marketing chain and halting the expansion of protected areas.
