The European Commission will reimburse €444 million to farmers on 1 December, once again due to the non-use of the reserve for agricultural crises (see EUROPE 12042). A regulation from 26 November allows the reimbursement to beneficiaries in the sector of appropriations carried over from the 2018 financial year.
Every year since the 2013 reform, the reserve for agricultural crises has been built up by reducing direct payments to farmers.
As of now, this reserve has never been used. Also, the credits mobilised for this purpose are returned to farmers.
“Although the agricultural sector has faced critical situations this year, such as extreme weather conditions in summer, it was not necessary to use the crisis reserve in 2018”, the Commission explains.
Support measures have been taken to help certain sectors, financed from the available budget of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The poor weather conditions in spring and summer led the EU to take measures to assist farmers, such as derogations from certain rules on greening of aid and higher advance payments for 2019 (see EUROPE 12099). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)