News Corona crisis
EU: funds are exhausted, no extra money for farmers
Despite urgent letters from interest groups and insistence from agriculture ministers, no extra money will be released from the EU to support agriculture. According to European Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, the Member States themselves still have sufficient room in their current CAP budget to assist their agriculture.
So no extra money. The Agriculture Commissioner speaks of exhausted agricultural funds. That is why he wants Member States to use unused money for rural development (second pillar) to support agriculture and horticulture. Wojchiechowski states that at least €6 billion will become available in this way.
COPA-COGECA
According to COPA, the association of European agricultural organizations, the need has not yet reached the Polish Agriculture Commissioner. They do not want a transfer from the second to the first pillar, according to them, the countryside itself desperately needs that money. The COPA-COGECA is responsible for the fire letters sent to the EU Commission. According to them, it is necessary that the agricultural committee comes up with money. They would also like to see extra money released for the storage of agricultural products such as butter and milk powder.
Stimulate private storage
But that doesn't happen either. Wojciechowski indicates that no money can be released for intervention measures or private storage, because there is no room in the budget. And that while the storage is badly needed. Even the European Parliament is asking for more storage capacity and the agriculture ministers of the 27 EU member states are also emphasizing this. They urge the committee to encourage private storage anyway, in order to prevent price shocks in the food chain.
Several sectors are affected by a drop in demand, such as the dairy sector. More and more dairy products are piling up. There is mainly an oversupply of milk powder. This has effect on the price. And to prevent a further decline, the agriculture ministers called for extra storage. Especially since it is still unclear what the situation will be in the long term.
Approved measures
Although no extra money will be made available, the European Commission has approved two measures that enable farmers to strengthen their cash position. On Thursday 16 April, the EC announced that advances for direct payments for agriculture will be increased from 50% to 70%. Normally, farmers receive these advances from mid-October, but the cabinet has decided to bring forward the payment date for Dutch farmers.
Bringing forward the payout date was made possible by the second approved measure. The conditions for paying out the funds have been relaxed, which gives member states the opportunity to pay farmers before all on-the-spot checks have been completed. In addition, checks that are necessary to demonstrate that farms meet subsidy conditions will be relaxed.
Jorine Cosse
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