Straujuma: Baltic countries were not united during EU budget talks

RIGA - The Baltic countries did not have a united position on the European Union's multiannual budget during the European Council meeting last week, and Latvia was fighting a losing battle on its own, Agriculture Minister Laimdota Straujuma said in an interview with Latvian State Radio this morning.

"Lithuania and Estonia said they were satisfied with the budget, and our premier Valdis Dombrovskis (Unity) had to continue the battle all alone," explained the minister.

Straujuma had a meeting with her Estonian and Lithuanian counterparts a week before the European Council meeting, realizing that they would not support Latvia. "Everybody was calculating how much they would gain individually; obviously Lithuania and Estonia were satisfied with the offer," said Straujuma.

None of the countries that participated in the European Council meeting attained their goals, and all state and government leaders attending the meeting left dissatisfied. Nevertheless, while the average EU budget reductions will be 12 percent to 14 percent, Latvia will gain 30 percent. This is the reason why Latvia was not offered more, explained Straujuma.

Straujuma does not believe that Latvia could have achieved more without the support from its allies. "What could we do? Veto the 27 countries' budget? We did make some calculations to see what we could achieve if we used our veto. The premier was very close to it," said the minister.

Theoretically, the European Parliament can vote the budget down, in which case everything will have to start from scratch, added Straujuma.

As reported, during the next planning period, Latvia will receive extra 67 million euros for rural development needs, according to yesterday's EU budget deal.

It was previously mentioned that Latvia could receive additional 60 million euros for rural development programs. Extra 7 million euros was most likely allotted due to the country's EU budget veto threat, according to unofficial information.

The deal envisages that Latvia will be able to channel the extra funds to direct payments.

The ceiling on cohesion funding for Latvia will be 2.59 percent of gross domestic product, or 4.2 billion euros, and direct area payments to Latvian farmers will increase to 196 euros, or approximately 80 percent of the EU average, by 2020.