On Tuesday, 19 December, the European Commission announced that it had authorised a €70 million Cypriot State aid scheme meant to compensate for damage caused to crop production or livestock by adverse climatic events that can be likened to natural disasters in the agricultural sector.
The European Commission specifies that this can be damage caused by storms, frost, hail, snowfall, heavy or untimely rainfall, high temperatures, temperature fluctuations, or drought or even damage caused by extreme atmospheric conditions or by the presence of dust in the atmosphere.
Under this scheme—which will run until 31 December 2030—the aid will take the form of direct grants. The maximum amount of aid per beneficiary is €150,000 per year and €500,000 over a five-year period.
The European Commission found that the scheme complied with European State aid rules—in particular, the 2022 Guidelines for State aid in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in rural areas as well as Article 107(3)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which allows, under certain conditions, aid designed to facilitate the development of certain economic activities or of certain economic areas to be authorised. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)