Brussels, 22/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - In a letter addressed to the European Commission and to the Council of Ministers, the Presidents of COPA (Committee of Agricultural Organisations in the European Union), Peter Gaemelke, and of COGECA (General Committee of Agricultural Cooperatives in the EU), Marcus Borgström, consider that "Community solidarity must fully play in favour of farmers and the farming sector of the regions affected by drought". They ask the EU to immediately implement, in collaboration with the public authorities and the agricultural organisations of these regions, a Community programme of specific aid in favour of farmers and the farming sector that have been hit by this natural disaster, and also, if necessary, to use the EU Solidarity Fund mechanism. COPA and COGECA also specify that the regions concerned by the heat wave are in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and Austria, as well as in a number of candidate countries.