The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, visited Greece on 5 October and Slovenia on 12 October to see the damage caused by the bad weather that has affected the two countries. These two EU Member States hope to be able to benefit quickly from support from the 2024 agricultural crisis reserve to help their hardest-hit farmers.
However, in view of the increasing number of extreme climatic events, a debate is underway at European level on the use of the crisis reserve, which was entirely used up (€530 million) in 2023 and for which requests have already been made for the 2024 envelope (€450 million) (see EUROPE 13253/12).
During a discussion on Monday 9 October at the meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA), several Member State experts reiterated that the agricultural reserve should be used primarily to remedy genuine market imbalances and not for extreme weather events affecting individual Member States. A ‘first come, first served’ approach is not appropriate either, some warn. The EU27 seem to agree on maintaining a case-by-case approach, but with an objective and transparent methodology for the use of the reserve, without going as far as an automatic trigger mechanism.
Some Member States would be in favour of launching a debate on the possibility of multiannual planning for the agricultural reserve. At this stage, the European Commission is restricting itself to promising a cautious approach, especially at the start of the financial year, but is not planning to formalise any specific guidelines. The subject is due to be debated at the Council meeting on 23 and 24 October in Luxembourg, at Croatia’s request. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)