The European Commission published in the Official Journal of the EU (https://bit.ly/2W24V7Q ) on Monday 4 May most of the measures announced on 22 April to further support the agricultural sector hit by the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic (see EUROPE 12478/17).
Exceptional measures include aid for private storage, temporary exceptional measures derogating from certain provisions to remedy market disturbances in the fruit and vegetables and wine sectors, market stabilisation measures in the potatoes and flowers sectors and rules for production planning in the milk and milk products sector.
On top of these market measures, the Commission proposed to allow Member States to use rural development funds to compensate farmers and small agri-food businesses up to 5,000 euros and 50,000 euros respectively.
For Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture, “some agricultural and food markets have been hit hard by the crisis. However, I am now confident that the adoption of these measures will provide tangible support, send the right signal to markets, and soon provide some stability”.
Private storage. The Commission will support (budget of 80 million euros) private storage aid for dairy products (skimmed milk powder, butter, cheese) and meat (beef, sheep and goat meat). This measure allows the temporary withdrawal of products from the market for a minimum of 2 to 3 months and a maximum of 5 to 6 months. Applications for participation in the plan will be open from May 7. This measure aims to stabilise the market by temporarily reducing the available supply.
Flexibility. The Commission will allow flexibility in the implementation of the market support programmes for wine, fruit and vegetables, table olives and olive oil, apiculture and the EU’s school scheme. This flexibility is intended to limit the supply available in each sector in order to bring about a rebalancing of the markets. In addition, it will allow a shift in funding priorities towards crisis management measures.
Derogations. Article 222 of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) allows the Commission to adopt temporary derogations from certain competition rules in situations of severe market imbalances.
The Commission has adopted such derogations for the milk, flowers and potatoes sectors. These derogations allow operators to self-organise and implement market measures at their level for a maximum period of 6 months.
For example, the dairy sector will be allowed to collectively plan milk production and the flowers and potatoes sectors will be allowed to withdraw products from the market. Storage by private operators will also be allowed.
For details: https://bit.ly/2yhoY9v (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)