Brussels, ready to distribute 250 million of the emergency package to Spain and other countries affected by the drought

Brussels is willing to distribute the 250 million euros that remain from the EU agriculture crisis reserve planned for this year to support the farmers and ranchers most affected by the drought and floods, as requested by Spain, Portugal , France and Italy.

“I would like to reassure these Member States. I have listened to your requests for support and I have already commissioned my services to evaluate them to activate the support that could exist under the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy)”, said the Commissioner for Agriculture, Janus Wojciechowski, during a session of the Agriculture Council and Fisheries held this Tuesday in Brussels, which has been dedicated to the drought. Shortly after, he reiterated his position on social networks: “There are still 250 million euros available in the agriculture reserve, after two packages (one of 100 million euros not yet approved). I have reiterated my willingness to deploy these funds if the circumstances justify it,” the Polish commissioner tweeted.

Spain had formally requested in a letter to the European Commission at the end of April that it urgently deliver a part of these agricultural reserve funds for crises — endowed with 450 million each year — to face the effects of the extreme lack of water . “The situation derived from this drought is of such magnitude that we cannot address its consequences solely with national funds,” said the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, in a letter sent to Brussels and which this newspaper was able to consult.

In view of this Tuesday’s meeting in the Belgian capital, Spain also joined an initiative by the Portuguese delegation —to which France and Italy also joined— in which the four Member States requested the activation of the crisis reserve due to the “serious drought” which, in the Italian case, has been aggravated in some regions by heavy flooding that has further affected agricultural and livestock production, in addition to the loss of life and material damage.

In the case of Spain, Planas recalled in his turn to speak, there are “four direct consequences” of the severe drought that devastates southern Europe above all, but not only: “Absence of pasture for livestock, which many crops of winter have not been completed, that spring crops have not been sown and that there is a reduction in irrigation that has direct consequences on the situation of our producers and from the point of view of food prices”, he summarized.

“What we are asking for is a mobilization of the agricultural reserve, I think it is fair that farmers and ranchers are supported in this crisis situation that is really a climate crisis, but that has a direct effect on the agricultural markets,” added the Spanish minister, who has held bilateral meetings with both Wojciechowski and the Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicius.

“We need flexibility to face this serious crisis”, the French minister, Marc Fesneau, has advocated for his part, referring to another demand from the four countries, that there also be administrative measures such as “derogations and flexibilities” in the implementation of their national plans of CAP. They also call for an increase in prepayment rates of up to at least 70% in the case of direct payments and up to a minimum of 85% within the rural development programme.

The Commissioner for Agriculture has recognized the “urgency” of the situation and has advanced that the decision on the release of the funds could be taken throughout the month of June, although he has pointed out that the “methodology” to do so has not yet been approved. the payments, which will not necessarily go only to the four countries that have led the initiative, given that, he recalled, the ravages of extreme weather events occur throughout the European territory.

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