Demonstrators carried banners in Lithuanian reading: “Lithuania, your village is dying”, “Lithuania, where are you going? Stop”, “No farmers, no food, no future” etc.
Farmers demand the Government to amend the procedure for restoring permanent grassland so that farmers do not have to restore it this year, 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.
Minister of Agriculture Navickas, took the stage to answer farmers’ questions but was met with chants “shame” and calls to resign.
Navickas said that he inherited a number of issues in agriculture from his predecessors or they emerged with changes to EU agricultural policies. People booed and whistled at most of his answers.
The minister told demonstrators that he discussed the issue of restoration of permanent grassland with the European commissioner and a solution favourable to Lithuanian farmers is approaching.
As regards the transit of Russian grain, the minister promised that legal measures would be sought to restrict the transit, adding that the majority of measures can only target agricultural goods imported to the EU.
Navickas added that just 110,000 tonnes of Russian grain is handled by Klaipėda port, compared with 4 million tonnes of Lithuanian grain and that this issue was more relevant to neighbouring Latvia. He stressed that this was a moral problem and he accepted this.
The Government issued a statement saying that it would propose to restore previous excise duty regulations so that marked diesel fuel could again be used not only in agricultural equipment but in other vehicles for agricultural activities.
Meanwhile, Minister of Environment Simonas Gentvilas, who addressed protesters earlier and spoke to them for an hour, noted that too many Lithuanian farms have switched from livestock farming to crop production as a result of subsidies. According to him, the latter was less favourable for the environment, whereas grazing cows and sheep are better for permanent grassland.
The minister also said an agreement was reached with farmers that farmland would not be ploughed and pesticides would not be sprayed 3 metres from riverbanks.
Speaking about protected areas, he said these could not be moved to state-owned land because certain bird habitats cannot be moved elsewhere.
He promised, however, that restrictions on felling would be reviewed.
Environmentalists held a counter protest simultaneously with the farmers’ rally. They argued that compromises with farmers must not be made at the expense of the environment. Environmentalists called to uphold long-term goals to tackle climate change, preserve biological diversity and adhere to other commitments.
Their event was attended by representatives of the Lithuanian Fund for Nature (LGF), the Lithuanian Ornithological Society (LOD), the Fund for Marshes, the Sustainable Development Centre (DVC) and the chairwoman of the Lithuanian Greens Party.
As reported earlier, the farmers were gathering in Vilnius Vinco Kudirkos Square before 11 a.m., the official start of the event.
The Lithuanian Agriculture Council (ŽŪT), organiser of the protest campaign, estimated the number of participants to be at several thousand. According to the institution, around 1.3 thousand tractors arrived in Vilnius on Tuesday.
A number of MPs joined the farmers in the rally: Vigilijus Jukna and Giedrius Surplys, Zigmantas Balčytis, Jonas Pinskus, Algirdas Butkevičius, Valentinas Bukauskas and Edmundas Pupinis.