Today, the European Commission has allocated €77 million in emergency support to farmers in the face of crises.
This includes €62 million from the agricultural reserve of the CAP, which will be divided among farmers in Austria, Czechia, and Poland, who were impacted by unprecedented frost and hail earlier this year.
National governments may complement this EU support by up to 200% with their own funds.
In addition, the Commission has allocated €15 million to the wine sector in Portugal, to support temporary crisis distillation. This funding will help to rebalance the market and prevent the emergence of a wider crisis.
I strongly welcome these allocations, which ensure much-needed support to farmers in need.
Furthermore, the recent climate and market disturbances have once again underlined the need for robust crisis support in the CAP.
This means:
- a strong budget for the agricultural reserve,
- responsive market interventions,
- and effective risk management and prevention measures in CAP strategic plans.
In the face of increasingly severe and increasingly unpredictable crises, these support mechanisms are crucial to maintain stable food production in the European Union.
Support from the agricultural reserve was essential last year – when the Commission came to the aid of farmers in Greece, Slovenia, Italy and Spain.
It is essential again this year, and will remain so in the future.
The stability of our farmers is vital for the stability of our society – we must remember this principle now, and reinforce it in the years to come.
