Brussels, 31/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission gave approval on Thursday 30 October to 27 programmes to promote agricultural products in the European Union and in third countries. The total budget of the programmes, the majority of which will run for a period of three years, is €77.370 million, with €38.99 million in EU funding. The total amount available €60 million and the remaining funds will be allocated in a second round of calls for offer in the spring of 2015.
In addition to the €30 million initially planned, the Commission has made a further €30 million available to help the sectors hit by the embargo imposed by Russia on EU agri-food products since the month of August.
Of the programmes selected by the Commission, 21 target the internal market and 6 target third countries. They will promote fruits and vegetables (10 programmes), milk (5 programmes), quality marks (4 programmes), organic products (3 programmes) and sheepmeat (3 programmes).
Two cross-border projects have been approved. The first is about encouraging people to eat sheepmeat (UK, Irish and French organisations) and has a total budget of €6.45 million (with the EU providing €3.2 million). The second, by organisations from Denmark, Ireland, the UK and France, is to encourage people to drink milk (€4.98 million, with €2.49 million from the EU). The new Community programme promoting agricultural products that was adopted by the Council on 13 October (and which will come into force in January 2016) will see its budget rise incrementally to €200 million in 2020, compared with €61.5 million in 2013. (LC)