Brussels, 08/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Dacian Cioloº, the European commissioner for agriculture, stressed on Wednesday 8 June that the source of the E.coli epidemic is not yet known. “The priority is to halt the sanitary crisis and restore consumer confidence.”
The emergency plan in favour of vegetable producers who have been affected by the sanitary crisis is set to be approved by the member states on Tuesday 14 June. This will allow the first payments of aid to be made available in July. After the meeting of the Council on Tuesday, Cioloº decided to extend the emergency plan to two other products: courgettes and peppers, in addition to cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce. He has decided to increase the level of compensation to 50% of the reference price of the products in question for all producers, whether or not they are part of an organisation. Producers who do belong to a producer organisation have access to other mechanisms, which will allow them up to 70% compensation (operational programmes). In total, in the immediate future, “we will have a budget of €210 million. This envelope will cover requests for compensation for the period from 26 May to 30 June”, the commissioner concluded. (L.C./transl.fl)