Luxembourg, 13/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 15 October, in the framework of the autumn amending letter, the Commission is to make a proposal not to use the unused funds from the European agricultural budget 2014 to pay for the emergency measures in favour of the farmers hit by the Russian ban on European agricultural products.
The consequence is that this aid, which stands at €340 million at this stage, will be paid for out of the 2015 agricultural crisis reserve of the common agriculture policy (CAP), a reserve which is currently set at somewhere in the region of €430 million. This reserve has been built by reducing the 2014 direct payments to farmers by 1.3%. The agriculture services of the European Commission intended to use the €400 million anticipated from the super-levy (dairy quota overrun), but the Commission is finally expected to recommend that this money be used for other actions, particularly humanitarian aid in third countries, for instance in response to the epidemic linked to the Ebola virus (see other article). (LC)