The European Commission has proposed 11 million euros in aid for Portuguese farmers, out of a total of 330 million euros for 22 European Union (EU) member states affected by adverse weather phenomena such as drought.
“The Commission proposes to mobilize additional EU funds for EU farmers affected by adverse weather events, high input costs and various market and trade-related problems”, announces the institution in a press release.
In total, the new aid program (which is mobilized on the basis of a crisis reserve) will amount to 330 million euros for 22 member states, of which 11.6 million euros concern Portugal and its drought situation.
“EU farmers in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden will benefit from this exceptional aid of 330 million euros from the Common Agricultural Policy budget”, explains the EU executive.
National authorities will be responsible for distributing these funds “directly to farmers in order to compensate them for economic losses due to market disruptions, the consequences of high input prices and the rapid fall in prices of agricultural products and, where appropriate, for damage caused by recent climatic events, which have been particularly severe in the Iberian Peninsula”, says the institution.
In addition, “countries can supplement this EU aid by up to 200% with national funds”, it adds.
This proposal comes after the Member States informed Brussels of their assessment of the difficulties encountered by their respective agricultural sectors.
As this is a crisis reserve, the measure will be voted on by the countries at the next meeting of the Committee for the Common Organization of Agricultural Markets.
Also today, at the Agriculture Council, EU ministers approved a €100 million aid package for farmers in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, based on another proposal from Brussels.
“Several other measures, including the possibility of increasing advance payments, should support farmers affected by adverse climatic events”, according to the European Commission.
The agricultural sector has been under pressure since the covid-19 pandemic and the rise in prices of energy and agricultural inputs such as fertilizers following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a scenario compounded by the severe drought on the Iberian peninsula.