Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan announced in Brussels on Monday 6 March that the exceptional aid granted to some fruit producers because of the damaging impact of the Russian ban on the import of certain EU agricultural products would be rolled-over after July 2017.
“Bearing in mind budgetary constraints, we need to focus further support on the persisting needs”, he stated after Poland sought additional measures from the Council to help its apple and pear producers.
The Commission plans to focus aid on certain fruit trees and permanent crops, for which there is still “a real threat of market disturbance”, a source has said. The Commission points out that this assistance scheme is only temporary.
The Commission has already paid out €430 million to EU fruit and vegetable producers since the start of the Russian embargo in August 2014, with €215 million going to Poland (including for 535,000 tonnes of apples).
The Commission also proposed reallocating the unused reserve under the current temporary exceptional measures for fruit and vegetable producers. This would result in about 18,000 tonnes becoming available for withdrawal from the market. This measure came into force on 5 March and will apply until 30 June 2017.
Lastly, in the new delegated act for fruit and vegetables, the amount of support for withdrawals will be increased significantly for the producer organisations with effect from the second quarter of 2017 (see EUROPE 11630). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)