Brussels, 25/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - The temporary exceptional support measures for producers of peaches and nectarines, which were announced on 11 August, were published on Friday 22 August in the Official Journal of the EU (see EUROPE 11138).
This regulation, which applies retroactively from 11 August 2014, lays down the details of: - the financial assistance to producer organisations for withdrawals; - the financial assistance to producers who are not members of producer organisations; - checks on withdrawal operations; - additional support to producer organisations for promotion activities; - details on applications for and payment of EU support; - notifications and declarations of expenditure.
“The seasonally high supply levels in peaches and nectarines and the slowdown in consumption due to adverse weather conditions at the peak of the harvest created a difficult market situation with significant price falls for those fruits”, the regulation states. The limited storage possibility for these perishable fruits does not allow for rapid improvement of the market. Additionally, the ban announced by Russia on imports of fruit and vegetables from the EU“risks to aggravate the situation in the peach and nectarines markets”, the Commission states.
In order to mitigate the impact of the sudden drop in prices this summer, the regulation temporarily increases the financial assistance currently granted by the Union for fruits withdrawn from the market to be distributed free of charge to certain organisations, such as charitable organisations and schools. EU financial support is to be granted up to a maximum of 10% of the volume of marketed production of each producer organisation.
Given the exceptional nature of the market disturbances and in order to ensure that all producers of peaches and nectarines are supported by the Union, the regulation provides for EU financial assistance to be extended to producers of peaches and nectarines who are not members of recognised producer organisation. Such producers will receive 50% of the amounts provided for under existing EU financial assistance, but they must fulfil the same or similar conditions as producer organisations.
Moreover, increased consumption of peaches and nectarines should help to stabilise the market situation more rapidly. Promotion campaigns should be used to encourage consumption. The regulation allows the EU to grant additional support to producer organisations for promotion campaigns. The expenditure to be borne by the EU for the purposes of the additional support to promotion activities will not exceed €3 million: Greece (€317,215), Spain (€1.1 million), France (€262,089) and Italy (€1.3 million). (LC)