Brussels, 18/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - To provide a helping hand to the fruit and vegetable sector, which has been suffering the consequences of the E.coli outbreak, the European Commission adopted rules on Monday 18 July which allow professional organisations to submit to their national authorities additional schemes to promote fresh fruit and vegetables on the internal and third country markets until 16 August. An additional budget of €15 million has been earmarked by the Commission for this initiative. The promotional campaigns could be ready to be launched this autumn: the Commission decision on proposals submitted by member states by 15 September is scheduled for 15 November. This proposed timetable will halve the usual adoption procedure time for co-financed programmes of this sort. (L.C./transl.rt)