Brussels, 16/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Monday 15 September, many MEPs called for an increase in aid to the farmers hit by the Russian ban on imports of EU agricultural products.
The chair of the EP agriculture committee, Czeslaw Adam Siekierski (EPP, Poland), the author of an oral question, pointed out that “a third of exports disappeared overnight”, referring to producers of fruit and vegetables, milk and meat hit by the embargo. This is a political crisis which has had a direct impact on the agricultural markets; it therefore calls for a gesture of solidarity, he continued. He called for funding other than from the agricultural funds to be made available to compensate the farmers. Siekierski also raised the fact that the Commission has suspended the aid of €125 million in favour of producers of perishable fruit and vegetables.
European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos stressed that Russia was the second-largest purchaser of European agricultural and agri-food products (after the United States). He added that the Commission had decided to act on three fronts: - preventing a destabilisation of the European market for the worst-hit products and avoiding a domino effect; - supporting the various European sectors in seeking new markets; - opening up the debate on the possibility of targeted compensation, “taking account of the political and financial implications”.
As regards market stabilisation, exceptional measures in the perishable fruit and vegetables sector (€125 million, with upper limits of €82 million for apples and pears and €43 million for other fruit and vegetables) allow these products to be withdrawn from the market (for free distribution or another purpose) or harvested green or not at all. In view of the fact that the countries' notifications (covering the period from 18 August to 3 September) for the planned operations have already exceeded these two ceilings, the Commission had to make a decision, on 10 September, to cease this measure. A new, more targeted measure (but allowing the support to be continued) will be presented in the next few days, the commissioner promised.
“We must not open the floodgates of support, but act in a targeted manner”, said Albert Dess (EPP, Germany). If the redirected funds and money from the agricultural crisis reserve is not enough, “we will have to consider direct payments to help farmers”, he added. The aid made available so far was quick, but “insufficient”, said Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy). Taking funds from the crisis reserve means cutting direct aid to farmers, he said. “We need to find other funds in the European budget”, De Castro said. As regards the suspension of the €125 million programme, he stressed the need to find “methods other than 'first-come, first-served' to distribute this compensation in a balanced way”. Janusz Wojciechowski (ECR, Poland) stressed that “we need European solidarity”. Ivan Jakovcic (ALDE, Croatia) proposed aggressively targeting new markets and encouraging children to eat more fruit and vegetables. He recommended that citrus fruits be included in the aid measures. Lidia Senra Rodriguez (GUE/NGL, Spain) called for all sectors of agriculture to be compensated and for a debate on a new CAP. In the view of Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, Germany), more attention should be paid to where the aid ends up and the Commission should look at who needs it and who is receiving it. “We have to avoid any policy which may lead to a further drop in prices”, he added.
A number of MEPs called for fines in the event of dairy quota overrun to be reduced, but Ciolos does not agree that this is a good idea, as it could lead to an increase in production and therefore to a slump in market prices. (LC)