Brussels, 15/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Voting was tight but the main points have been accomplished. Over the next few days, the European Commission will adopt the regulation that will mean a €210 million compensation package for EU vegetable producers who have been hit hard by the fallout from the E.coli epidemic.
The EU Management Committee vote on Tuesday 14 June resulted in what is known as a “no opinion”, which allows the Commission to adopt on its own initiative the aid compensating producers for 50% of their losses. “This is an important signal for fresh vegetable growers because I was very keen to show that Europe can react quickly when it needs to”, commented European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloº.
Several countries opposed the aid arrangements (France, Spain, Poland and Slovakia) demanding more Community funding and full compensation of the losses incurred by market gardeners. Eight countries abstained (Greece, Italy, Austria, Romania, the Czech Republic, and the three Baltic states).
The regulation will ensure the market gardeners affected an average of at least 50% of the value of the vegetables withdrawn from the market (based on prices over the last four years). Those who are members of producer organisations (some 35% of European producers) will recover up to 70% of their losses through additional compensation mechanisms.
Member states will have until 22 July to inform the Commission of the quantities withdrawn from the market, with producers thereafter beginning to receive their compensation. Also by that date, and once the amounts involved are known, the level of compensation will be confirmed.
The emergency fund, amounting to €210 million, will, for example, allow tomato growers to receive up to 33.2 cents per kilo in compensation, entirely from the European budget. Those who are members of producer organisations will see this sum increased by 7.25 cents, funded half by the EU and half by their organisation, that is, then, maximum compensation of 40.45 cents per kilo of tomatoes compared with the average seasonal price of 66.4 cents (between 2008 and 2010).
The enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) bacterium, which has claimed the lives of 37 people, 36 of them in Germany, caused a fall in the consumption of vegetables, in particular of tomatoes, lettuces, cucumbers, courgettes and peppers. It is the producers of these five vegetables who will be compensated.
Unaware initially of the source of the epidemic, the German authorities launched a, swiftly lifted, alert on a batch of Spanish cucumbers and advised consumers against eating raw cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuces. Ultimately the rare and particularly virulent strain of the E.coli bacterium that caused the outbreak was officially traced last week to bean sprouts in an organic farm in the north of Germany, which has now been closed.
Commissioner Cioloº said he was “optimistic” that consumption will pick up “very quickly”. However, the shadow hanging over vegetables over two good weeks cost European producers hundreds of millions of euro. Spanish growers, by far the worst affected, have spoken of losses of €225 million per week.
The European sector also suffered from embargos on its vegetables put in place by a number of countries, such as Russia. Although Moscow has agreed in principle to lift this ban, discussions with the EU on putting this into practice were continuing on Tuesday. (L.C./transl.rt)