On Monday 19 May, the EU Council approved the European Commission’s proposal (see EUROPE 13636/30) to provide additional aid and flexibility for Mayotte and the outermost regions affected by natural disasters.
With this decision, the Member States’ representatives in the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) want to guarantee rapid liquidity “to support the affected population and help restore agricultural production”.
National authorities will now be able to make exceptional adjustments to the support given to the EU’s outermost regions through the ‘programme of options specifically relating to remoteness and insularity’ (POSEI). As a result, farmers in the affected areas whose activities have been interrupted or stopped can continue receiving POSEI assistance.
Particularly hard hit by cyclone Chido and tropical storm Dikeledi, Mayotte will benefit from an extra 10% of the emergency support introduced last autumn in response to the natural disasters of 2024.
Parliament still has to give its approval. Voting will take place at the June plenary session, while the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development has chosen to use the urgency procedure. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)