Farming representatives from the EU's three Baltic States have stepped up a campaign which aims to secure what they claim is a fair share of support payments under the forthcoming Common Agricultural Policy.

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As EU budget talks loom, a symbolic soviet-era tractor is making its way to Brussels to arrive in time for a demonstration which will take place outside the budget talks on Thursday (23rd November). Farming groups in the Baltic States have been protesting collecting signatures from shoppers and farmers themselves since June.

Estonian Farmers Confederation deputy president Jaan Sorra said at the beginning of the drive for increased support that, "This action is a touchstone of democracy and solidarity - if Brussels does not listen to our just demands, the talk about citizens' society, solidarity and caring about its citizens is hollow."  

At present, levels of agricultural subsidies for the Baltic States are the lowest in the EU; the average EU direct subsidies level is €269 per hectare, whereas in Estonia it is €117, in Latvia €97 and in Lithuania €144. Under current proposals, direct subsidy allocations will increase to just €159 in Estonia, €145 in Latvia and €177 in Lithuania by the end of the next budgetary period in 2020.

In budget proposals made over the past two weeks by EU Council president Herman Van Rompuy and current EU president state Cyprus, cohesion funding, which aim to address disparity in spending between the EU's richer Western states and newer entrants, suffers swingeing cuts.   

Pressure to cut EU spending in the wake of austerity measures being implemented in countries across the bloc, which is being exerted by Western states, including Britain, Germany and Sweden, contrasts sharply with the desires of Southern and Eastern states, as well as the bloc's largest agricultural producer France, which is the largest beneficiary of EU farm spending. These states, often the EU's poorer members, want funding preserved.

Baltic States have protested that they are paying an inordinately hefty price in current austerity measures; they have been locked in among the EU's toughest austerity measures since the crisis began.

On Wednesday morning, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said he is prepared to veto the budget plan if his country does not get a better deal on subsidies. Discussing the question of a veto on Latvian television, Dombrovskis said, "If our interests are completely ignored, we don't exclude that possibility."

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