Brussels, 20/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission will next week be able to announce the sum total of the compensation to be paid to producers of fruit and vegetables whose income has been hit by the crisis of confidence caused by the E.coli epidemic in Europe. But the bill could end up getting even bigger, if the Commission has to action all applications. This dossier was discussed in Brussels on Tuesday 19 July by the European agriculture ministers.
The Commission had announced a total of €210 million. However, applications from certain countries could end up blowing the envelope out of the water: Poland has called for compensation for its producers to a total of €81 million, Spain wants €71 million, Germany €16 million, and Belgium has requested around €10 million. France has asked for “better compensation for the E.coli epidemic”. According to this country, “the level which has been proposed to us today is not satisfactory and does not respond to the expectations of the producers who have been unfairly affected”. Will the Commission be forced to turn down certain applications in order to remain within the upper limit?
Compensation measures. The decision as to the starting date for payments to be made under compensation measures for the producers will be taken in the management committee. The Commission is not yet able to put forward definitive figures for the amounts requested by the countries, as its services have asked four countries to provide clarifications on these figures. We need to verify that the applications submitted to the Commission have been checked on the ground by the competent authorities, stressed Dacian Cioloº. This additional information must be sent to the Commission by no later than the evening of Friday 22 July, in order to allow the management committee meeting of the following week to agree on the final eligible amount and launch the payment procedure.
The Commission will carry out audit and control missions to all of the EU countries which have set these measures in place, before the end of this year.
As regards the application period, Union support will apply solely to crops which should have been harvested during the crisis period, in other words from 26 May to 30 June (neither potential future production, nor production which had already been harvested before 26 May, will be eligible).
Market situation. The Commissioner has stated that the market for fruit and vegetables is beginning to recover (both in terms of consumption and prices). During the week of 4-10 July, market prices were confirmed to be on the increase on most of the markets: cucumbers, courgettes and peppers.
There are products for which lower than average prices have been observed in recent years, but this is mainly due to climatic circumstances (a warmer season leading to the existence on the market of a juxtaposition of products from various regions of Europe, whereas these products would usually be available according to a staggered timetable). This is the case with tomatoes and lettuce. The prices of these products could therefore remain lower than their corresponding average over the previous three years, the Commission services explain. As regards the quantities based on the market, the volume of trade on the European markets has returned to the seasonal norm.
Peaches and nectarines. At the Council, France and Italy called for exceptional support for the production of peaches and nectarines. The Commission indicated that there should be no confusion between a crisis caused by the E.coli epidemic and a specific market crisis. “The producer organisations have operational programmes which should be able to intervene in situations of this kind”, said Cioloº. However, the commissioner indicated that the Commission was prepared to review the reference price for market withdrawal, notably for peaches and nectarines. This intervention price has not been re-assessed for 15 years and no longer covers production costs. The objective is for this intervention tool to work as a genuine safety net.
Promotion. Cioloº informed the Council that the Commission has mobilised all resources available to it in order to be able to set in place promotion activities at EU level for the consumption of fruit and vegetables (the Commission gave fruits and vegetables out to the press on this occasion). The Commission has prepared a video clip which will be made available to television channels free of charge, which can use it to get a few simple messages across. Eating fruit and vegetables every day is vital to our health; Community crops are good quality; there is no reason for any concerns or to restrict consumption. “We need to regain confidence in our products and our producers”, said Cioloº. (L.C./transl.fl)