AgriMin Welcomes Proposals Submitted by We Are Family for Public Discussion

Bratislava, June 3 (TASR) - The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry welcomes the proposals for the sector presented by the We Are Family movement for public discussion, TASR was told by ministry spokesman Vladimir Machalik in response to the measures presented by parliamentary agriculture and environment committee head Jaroslav Karahuta (We Are Family). "The ministry welcomes these topics given for a public discussion. We'll certainly deal with them when the ministry receives more detailed information about them. Certainly there will be negotiations on this," stated Machalik. According to him, a state rendering plant is a very important topic for Slovak agriculture as Slovakia currently has only one rendering plant, which is in private hands. "At the same time, European legislation doesn't allow us to export to other countries dead animals that have had African swine fever virus (ASFV) or so-called bird flu," noted the spokesman. "Regarding the topic of a police unit dealing with land, in the past there was training by the Agriculture Ministry, in which the Slovak Land Fund (SPF), the Agricultural Payment Agency (PPA), the Agriculture Ministry, and the Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute participated. These organisations helped the Police Corps and the prosecutor's office to better acquaint themselves with the issues. We therefore believe that this is why a model of co-operation will be found in which it should be possible to set up a land police unit. We'll see, it'll depend on a public discussion," added Machalik. Karahuta told a briefing earlier on Wednesday that his party will submit proposals on setting up a state rendering plant as well as a police unit dealing exclusively with land parcels, among other things. He also wants to engage mayors and local councils in resolving applications for land subsidies. am/mcs