Brussels, 21/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - With no progress in discussions between the European Commission and Russia to lift the Russian embargo on European pork meat, the EU agreed to aid measures, on Thursday 20 March, for Polish farmers affected by loss of income in the regulated areas.
At a meeting with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw on 14 March, European Commissioner for Agriculture, Dacian Ciolos stated that the Commission was inclined to agree to co-fund emergency measures to compensate the losses of Polish pork meat producers in the regions affected by restrictions linked to the discovery of cases of African swine fever. The crisis has had an extremely negative impact on the agricultural income of these farmers.
Poland's request received the green light of the member states meeting in the management committee on 20 March. It will be applied retrospectively to cover animals slaughtered since the restrictions were brought in on 26 February. The aid will be based on the difference in the slaughter price between the regulated area and the rest of the country in recent weeks. Producers in the restricted areas (due to African swine fever) may receive aid of €35.7 per carcass for pigs slaughtered from 26 February onwards. The aid will be limited to 100 kg per carcass up to an overall limit of 20,000 tonnes. The maximum cost of the aid regime will be €7.1 million, 50% of which will be reimbursed by the EU budget. Veterinary tests have shown that pigs from the regulated areas have not been infected by the virus and that the meat is perfectly safe, though this has not prevented a loss of consumer confidence. (LC)