The European Commission “does not intend to activate sectoral support measures related to the frost damage this year in the wine and fruit and vegetable sectors”, replied the European Commission on Thursday 20 May in plenary (see EUROPE 12711/15).
A debate on the effects of frost events had been requested by the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture.
Janusz Wojciechowski, the Commissioner for Agriculture, added that his services will continue to monitor the situation in these sectors closely, “all while maintaining the possibility of reacting, if necessary”.
For sectoral programmes, the Commission could consider, where possible, “adjustments in the existing fruit and vegetables and wine programmes to make risk management more attractive, without incurring additional costs”.
Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy) asked the Commissioner “to intervene quickly in order to activate the exceptional measures to combat such situations”, which are provided for in Article 219 of the regulation on the common market organisation (CMO).
The Commissioner recalled that the CAP already supports compensation schemes to cover production losses caused, for example, by adverse weather events (insurance, mutual funds, income stabilisation tools).
On behalf of the EPP, Herbert Dorfmann from Italy said that too few farmers are insured, “in part because Member States do not offer useful tools”.
Future CAP. “I consider it the EU’s duty to adapt our risk management instruments here to support our farmers”, said the Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture, Norbert Lins (EPP, Germany).
Mr De Castro called for part of the funds allocated to direct CAP payments to be used to finance a ‘safety net’ to protect all European producers against catastrophic events.
Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe, France) explained that in France, “80% of the vineyards are severely affected and producers are expecting very low harvests”. She asked the Commission, in view of the final phase of the CAP discussions, to reconsider its position on the Parliament’s request to change the average used for calculating losses. According to Ms Tolleret, “ the current five-year average needs to be extended, because we have farmers who, over these five years, have four years of climatic hazards, so the average is not appropriate”.
“A permanent multi-annual mutual insurance system accessible to the greatest number of people would obviously be welcome”, said Claude Gruffat (Greens/EFA, France).
Crisis reserve. The European Council has set the amount of the agricultural crisis reserve at 450 million euros per year. The Parliament is asking for “at least” 450 million euros per year. This issue will be on the agenda of next week’s ‘super trilogue’. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)