Farmers in Bulgaria blocked more than 40 important roads and border crossings today due to the lifting of the embargo on grain supplies from Ukraine.

The farmers are demanding that the ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products be extended, that they be compensated for their losses and that state aid be provided to areas affected by natural disasters.

There are calls for the resignation of the government.

The Prime Minister called the farmers’ arguments untenable.

“Representatives of the agricultural sector cannot claim that the state does not care about it when the state gives more than 2 billion leva. They cannot neglect European requirements, given that the tractors with which they want to block the roads were purchased with European funds”;

“They cannot say that they are not interested in Europe when most of the funds they receive in the form of subsidies and assistance are European,” said Nikolai Denkov.

He advised grain producers to refuse European funds and then ban Ukrainian goods.