FDBusiness.com

EU Member States agreed to a Commission proposal to increase the support under the emergency plan for vegetable producers affected by the E-Coli crisis from Eur210m to Eur227m. This will allow the Commission to pay 100% of the demands for compensation from the different Member States.

On the basis of the notifications from all Member States on the EU support requested for all the exceptional measures, it appears that the financial impact of the measures taken in the context of this E-coli crisis has been slightly bigger than expected. Given the significant disturbance of the fruit and vegetables market and the harm caused to the fruit and vegetables sector, the Commission considered it appropriate to increase the budget up to Eur227m.

An emergency aid package for fresh vegetable growers worth Eur210m was agreed by the Commission on 17th June. This scheme allowed for the EU to pay producers for cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, courgettes, and sweet peppers that had been withdrawn from the market between May 26 and the end of June as a result of the E-coli outbreak. The decision envisaged paying a maximum rate of 50% (70% for members of Producers Organisations) of the usual producer price of the different products in June.