EU instruments helping farmers to insure their income against falling prices and production losses have only partially met their objectives and their uptake remains low and uneven, according to a new report by the EU Court of Auditors published on Thursday 5 December. In addition, some exceptional measures have not been properly targeted and can lead to disproportionate overcompensation, the auditors say.
Most of the €2.6 billion budgeted by the EU to help farmers insure against price volatility and production losses had little impact, the Court stated. The money reaches a very small share of farmers, as fewer than 10 % of those who insure do so with EU support. Most farmers do not even consider taking mitigating risk, as they expect to receive substantial public aid anyway in case of a crisis.
In addition, EU support for insurance is not channelled to those in real need. In the two Member States making most use of it (Italy and France), the auditors observed a concentration of this aid on the wine sector and a 'windfall effect'.
Regarding the exceptional measures taken following the Russian embargo, the Court noted that their application was not based on any objective parameters and that the level of aid depended mainly on losses linked to the Russian market, since the existence of alternative outlets had only been taken into account from the third year of the embargo.
Finally, the Court criticised the aid for apple and peach/nectarine producers.
Link to the report: https://bit.ly/36gthx9 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)