At the Agriculture Council meeting in Brussels on Monday 27 May, several Member States asked the European Commission to raise the threshold for ‘de minimis’ aid.
The European agriculture ministers took stock of measures to tackle the crisis and the situation on the agricultural markets. The European Commission has launched consultations with EU countries with a view to a forthcoming revision of the ‘de minimis’ regulation, which exempts from State aid control small amounts of aid that have little impact on competition and the dynamics of the single market (see EUROPE 13401/1).
At the end of April, Germany and 15 other countries asked for the threshold to be raised from €20,000 to €50,000.
With regard to crisis management instruments, the European Commission highlighted to the ministers that the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) placed a strong emphasis on crisis management and resilience, that direct payments mitigated the impact of crises by stabilising incomes and that the agricultural crisis reserve played an important role.
Several ministers stressed the need to put in place a safety net to protect farmers from climatic, economic and geopolitical risks. “The Member States agreed on the need to put in place a flexible, resilient and more forward-looking crisis management system, in which research and innovation play a major role”, said the Belgian Minister for Agriculture, David Clarinval, at the press conference.
“We need more flexibility, more budget in the current mechanisms”, said Mr Clarinval.
The ministers agreed that the agricultural reserve (€450 million per year) should only be used in the event of serious market disruption, and stressed the importance of insurance and reinsurance tools.
Poland also requested exceptional aid for fruit and vine growers to compensate for the damage caused by the frost.
Several ministers pointed out that the recent bad weather had also affected the fruit and vegetable and wine sectors.
Regarding Ukraine, several Member States expressed their solidarity with the country and some countries felt that the safeguard clause should be introduced for sugar (see EUROPE 13417/10). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)