Agriculture, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Legislation, Markets and Companies

"It is quite clear that taxpayers will not manage to pay for the whole crisis, and it is not possible that Estonian taxpayers would compensate for the loss of profits," the prime minister said.

"We know that last year, in some sectors in agriculture profits were very high. To presume that the taxpayers could create these profits to farmers this year as well – probably you understand that it is not feasible for the taxpayers," he added.

Rõivas recalled that the European Commission has decided to allocate to Estonia a six times bigger sum than the proportion of Estonia of European Union would presume, or 7.56 million euros, and this year, extraordinary measures for 25 mln euros more have been decided upon.

"And that's not all. We are working further and thinking about how to find additional opportunities," said Rõivas.

European Union agriculture ministers decided this week to divide between the Member States a 420 million euro aid package. Estonian agriculture will be allocated a total of 7.56 million euros. Estonian farmers, however, who held a major demonstration this week, believe that the real need would be for 30 million euros.