The European Commission announced on Wednesday 27 November that it will reimburse €467 million to European farmers, as the agricultural crisis reserve has not been used this year.
Every year since the 2013 reform, the reserve for agricultural crises has been built up by reducing direct payments to farmers (see EUROPE 12148/3).
The Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 27 November a regulation allowing this reimbursement as from 1 December 2019, including €87.8 million for France, €59.9 million for Germany and €58.2 million for Spain.
In accordance with the EU rules on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of 2013, direct payments must be subject to a linear reduction (which spares small farmers and Croatia), in order to finance the crisis reserve in the agricultural sector.
“The crisis reserve was not needed in 2019, even though the agricultural sector faced challenging situations this year”, the Commission commented. It recalls that additional support measures were put in place to help farmers affected by this summer's extreme weather conditions, such as advances on direct payments or derogations from the rules on greening aid (see EUROPE 12315/3). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)