Brussels, 20/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos said on Tuesday 20 March that, if all the conditions were met, he would be prepared to agree to the requests by Spain and Portugal to bring forward to mid-October, rather than December, the date for payment of direct aid to farmers to help ease the impact of the drought on the agricultural output of the two countries.
“If it is justified, we could look at bringing forward payment of direct aid to 16 October if the checks on the ground have been completed and the various state aid plans tailored to the situation. But we will have to work on a case-by-case basis and, if necessary, consider measures that could be taken in rural development programmes to restore production capacities when they have been affected by natural disasters”, said Ciolos at a press conference.
At the Agriculture Council, seven countries - France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia - backed the Spanish and Portuguese requests. Spain is hoping that the farmers whose production has been affected by the drought will receive a total of €5 billion before December. (LC/transl.rt)