The EU Commission has announced fresh plans for support measures for farmers affected by the Russian embargo, after the previous scheme was inundated with suspected bogus claims.

image expired

On Monday, the Commission announced that a further €165 million (£128m) in support funds will be made available for fruit and vegetable growers in light of the continued effects of the Russian ban on imports of food and drink from the EU.

On 7th August, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced that the country would be suspending imports of food and drink from the United States, EU, Australia, Canada and Norway with immediate effect. The ban is expected to last for one year and has already led disgruntled European farmers to protest in France, Spain and Poland.

The emergency market measures unveiled on Monday include support to withdraw surplus produce from the market (for free distribution or composting), green harvesting and non-harvesting. The new plan also covers oranges, mandarins and clementines for the first time.

This round of support is aimed at produce that would have been exported to Russia between September and December, and will be available to farmers in the 13 member states from which most exported produce originates. Although citrus fruits have been included in the measures, which also cover apples, pears, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, kiwi, plums & table grapes, certain types of produce have been dropped from the second round.

Targeted support designed to deter suspect claims

The Commission's support comes in addition to €125m in support measures released shortly after the ban came into effect. The EU executive declared earlier this month that the full €125m had been claimed, but warned that future schemes would be more targeted, as there had been a large number of suspect applications, including from Poland, where claims for cucumbers and gherkins which could not be sold due to the ban amounted to 487 percent of the country's typical annual EU exports to Russia.

The new scheme includes an annex outlining eligible volumes for individual Member States, with specific figures listed for each product group, based on a three-year average of export volumes. The Commission added that amounts had been deducted from the annexes to account for produce claimed for under the first round of support funding.  

Unveiling the updated programme, agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş said, "These market support measures will provide short-term relief. I am pleased that the Commission has managed to mobilise a further €165 million to help ease the market pressure for fruit and vegetable growers following the Russian ban. This programme will be more targeted than the initial scheme, although there is still some flexibility within the 4 product groups."