These measures concern market support carrots, tomatoes, cabbages, peppers, cauliflower, cucumbers, pickles, mushrooms, apples, pears, berries, table grapes and kiwis.
The European Commission has announced the release of some € 125 million to support the vegetable sector in the European Union, struck by the Russian embargo of one year on Western food. Coming into effect from Monday, the measures to support the market through withdrawals compensated products involve carrots, tomatoes, cabbages, peppers, cauliflower, cucumbers, pickles, mushrooms, apples, pears, berries, grapes table and kiwis, according to a statement from the Commission.
“The budget is about EUR 125 million,” said in a press spokesman of the Committee for Agriculture, Roger Waite. “The idea is to reduce the quantity put on the market so that prices do not fall to a level of crisis,” he noted. “All growers of these products, whether they belong to producer organizations will be eligible” for his part said the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dacian Ciolos.
Once formalized, the next few weeks, the measures will apply retroactively from August 18 and will remain in effect until the end of November. Poland, Lithuania, Belgium and the Netherlands, major suppliers of perishable fruits and vegetables to Russia, will be the main beneficiaries of this support, said a European source.
Emergency
A special meeting of agriculture ministers is also scheduled on September 5 in Brussels to take stock of the impact of the Russian embargo added Mr. Waite, three days earlier than originally suggested by the Italian presidency of the EU. The Commission has decided to use these emergency measures, it can finance through a crisis reserve of over 420 million per year due to the lack of alternative outlets for perishable products concerned, beaten the embargo “in full harvest season.”
The device expects to increase from 5% to 10% the volume of products that can be removed from the market and compensate producers for 50% to 100%, depending on whether the product is marketed under another form is not collected or distributed free. The Commission stated that it “would not hesitate to support other sectors,” including cheeses and meats, hit by the embargo.
The first estimates amount to some 5.2 billion euros the value of agricultural exports concerned. The Commission has set up an enhanced surveillance mechanism of the markets to react “step by step” without yielding to any bidding producers and affected States. “Plan A is to find alternative markets” to Russian markets, said a European source.
Embargo year
The German Minister of Agriculture, Christian Schmidt , for his part, predicted a “fairly low impact,” noting that Russia can not alone satisfy about 60% of its food needs. The foreign ministers of the EU have nonetheless decided to pursue diplomatic efforts to persuade third countries – Latin America, Egypt and Turkey in particular – do not try to take advantage of the opportunity to grab market Russian. Over a period of one year, the Russian embargo on beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheese, milk, and fruit and vegetables from the EU, the United States, Australia, Canada and Norway. It is a measure of retaliation for international sanctions against Moscow for its attacks on the sovereignty of Ukraine.
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