Brussels, 31/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - The four main political groups' coordinators on the European Parliament agriculture committee wrote to new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday 29 October, calling on him to revise the proposal seeking to activate the reserve (in the event of an agricultural crisis) to finance the measures taken to offset the impact of the Russian embargo on the import of EU agricultural products.
In its draft EU budget for 2015 (after amending letter), the Commission calculates that, of the €433 million in the agricultural crisis reserve (made up from a 1.3% reduction in direct payments) there will only remain €88 million. €344 million have already been earmarked for market support measures taken hitherto to limit the effect of the restrictions imposed by Moscow.
In their letter, Albert Dess (Christian Democrat), Paolo De Castro (Socialist), James Nicholson (Conservatives) and Jens Rohde (Liberal) underline that the current agricultural crisis is the consequence of a foreign political decision and not of a market failure. The 2015 draft budget is due to be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council.
First fruit and vegetable emergency plan will cost less than thought
Will there be any additional funds to finance fresh measures? It is very possible. According to initial figures submitted by the member states to the Commission, of the €175 million in emergency aid requested under the first support plan for the perishable fruit and vegetable sector, it would appear that only €55 million have been confirmed. The Polish authorities submitted a request for only €25.8 million, having originally asked for €147 million. It was the scale of the requests from Poland that forced the Commission to suspend its first plan (worth €125 million) and to come up with a new, better targeted, €165 million plan. For producers who are not members of producer organisations, the Commission asked the member states to carry out checks in every farm that requested aid. In Poland, many requests were found to be ineligible. The extra funds that have thus become available should be able to reduce the dent made by the Commission proposals in the crisis reserve and so ease payment of compensatory aid for dairy producers in the Baltic States and Finland, who have been hard hit by the Russian restrictions. (LC)