Brussels, 18/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 18 November, the European Commission approved programmes presented by 11 member states (Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Romania, United Kingdom and Greece) for the promotion of fresh fruit and vegetable within the internal market and in third countries. The programmes selected, running for three years, have a total budget of €34.1 million, of which €17 million (50%) is financed by the EU. The programmes are part of a series of measures proposed by the Commission this summer, given the difficult market situation suffered by the sector in the wake of the E.coli crisis.
Spain receives the lion's share of EU aid with €3.5 million (for two programmes), ahead of Greece (€3.4 million for two programmes), France (€2.1 million for one programme), Italy (€2 million for two programmes), the Netherlands (€1.8 million for one programme), and Bulgaria (€1.3 million).
In the context of the crisis affecting the fruit and vegetable sector, Dacian Ciolos, European Agriculture Commissioner, has pledged to support the sector by speeding up procedures for adoption of promotion programmes. “This additional envelope comes in addition to the emergency measures put in place during the summer to help the fruit and vegetables sector come to terms with the E.coli crisis. In this period, the Commission has shown its capacity to react quickly and proportionately to support those producers most hit by the crisis. In the medium term, we can also provide measures to help producers climb back up the slope to where they were before the crisis”, the commissioner said.
A regulation adopted in July this year cut by more than half the length of the usual adoption procedure associated with co-financed programmes of this sort. Under this schedule, the Commission services received 17 programmes (with a total budget of €40.1 million), of which 14 were selected for co-financing out of which 11 target the internal market and 3 target third countries. Programmes run for three years. Germany is the main target country among EU member states, while third country programmes aim at the Chinese, Russian and Ukrainian markets. (LC/transl.jl)