
The Serbian Ministry of Agriculture said it upheld the appeals and revoked the decisions to place the farming households of Predrag Veljkovic, Zlatko Kokanovic, and Djoka Curcic in passive status.
It added that the cases have been referred back to the first-instance authority for re-examination and further decision-making.
The Ministry emphasized that the only way to reconsider the decisions of the Directorate for Agrarian Payments on placing farming households in passive status is for household owners to file appeals within the legal deadline.
When an agricultural household is placed in passive status, it becomes ineligible for state subsidies for agricultural production, and no other household can register on that land.
Zlatko Kokanovic is a farmer and environmental activist with the We Won’t Give Up Jadar association. Predrag Veljkovic is an opposition councilor on the Kraljevo municipal council. Djoka Curcic is a member of the Initiative for the Survival of Serbian Farmers.
Farmers’ associations have been staging protests across Serbia, and one of their demands is the immediate reversal of what they describe as illegal decisions on placing these farming households in passive status.