On Monday 22 July, the European Commission announced that it had approved a Dutch State aid scheme worth €105 million to compensate livestock farmers who voluntarily relocate their activities from nature conservation areas in the Netherlands belonging to the Natagora network and overburdened with nitrogen to another location in the Netherlands or in the rest of the EU.
The scheme will be open to small and medium-sized livestock farmers in the Netherlands that voluntarily relocate their livestock farming activities. To be eligible, these activities must take place on sites where the nitrogen deposition load is at least 2,500 moles of nitrogen per year.
The aid will reach eligible businesses until July 2029 in the form of direct grants covering up to 100% of eligible costs.
The Commission found the scheme to be in line with European rules and, in particular, with the 2022 Guidelines for State aid in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in rural areas and with Article 107(3)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)