Milan, 29/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 29 September, the European Commission announced a new aid regime in favour of perishable fruit and vegetables, in response to the Russian ban on imports of agricultural products from the EU. EU funding (2015) for these exceptional measures stands at €165 million, and credits in the agricultural crisis fund are not expected to be mobilised at this stage, although internal talks on the finer details for the support are still underway.
The new programme, which is still to be formally adopted, will cover four produce groups: apples and pears, citrus fruit (oranges, clementines and mandarins), vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, peppers, cucumbers and gherkins) and other fruit (kiwis, plums, table grapes). Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and red berries, whose harvest periods have ended, will no longer be included.
The volumes which can be withdrawn from the market (free distribution, green harvesting, composting etc) for each of these groups have been allocated to twelve member states on the basis of average exports over the last three years: 94,600 tonnes for Spain, 77,270 tonnes for Italy, 59,430 tonnes for Belgium (mainly pears), 45,075 tonnes for Greece, 31,050 tonnes for France, 29,000 tonnes for the Netherlands, 18,750 tonnes for Poland (apples and pears only), 16,220 tonnes for Cyprus (citrus fruits only), 13,100 tonnes (apples and pears only) for Germany, 8,950 tonnes for Croatia, 4,345 tonnes for Portugal and 1,295 tonnes for Hungary. On top of these volumes, a reserve of 3,000 tonnes will be granted to each member state, for instance to help produce not covered by the regulation (such as artichokes, for example, whose producers in France are struggling greatly).
On the sidelines of the informal meeting of the agriculture ministers in Milan, European Commissioner Dacian Ciolos announced that the new scheme would be more targeted than its predecessor (€125 million). The aid will cover more or less the same productions as the previous scheme, but volumes will be lower for produce whose season is coming to an end, the commissioner explained. There will be quantities for each country affected, which means that “we have taken into account the effects of the Russian ban”. He went on to add: “We have also taken account of what has already been withdrawn from the market”. This explains the low volumes granted to Poland this time round.
On the crisis reserve, Ciolos said that the rules of proper financial management must be followed: first of all, the available margin must be used and then, if there is no available budget, the crisis reserve will be mobilised. However, the crisis reserve is paid for by reducing direct payments under the financial discipline mechanism. “Personally, I would like to limit the use of financial discipline”, the commissioner stated. (LC)