Brussels, 13/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - Tuesday, the European Commission authorised the German Land of Nordrhein-Westfalen to pay a little over one million euro to some of its beef farmers who suffered losses between November 2000 and March 2001 due to the effects of the BSE crisis. The Commission provided its go-ahead for this aid to income given the "exceptional" nature of the crisis on the beef market. It is, more precisely, financial assistance granted in the form of a 5% interest subsidy on existing loans to cattle farmers. Farmers can obtain loans of up to 500 euro per animal older than six months and 250 euro for younger animals. The interest subsidy amounts to a maximum value of 25 euro per animal. According to the German authorities, between 100 and 500 breeders should benefit from the scheme.