Around fifteen EU states, including France and Germany, called on the European Commission on Monday to raise the maximum level of public aid that a country can grant to an agricultural operation without formal notification or a green light. in advance from Brussels. A regulation updated at the beginning of 2019 authorizes Member States to allocate up to 20,000 euros in public subsidies (apart from European CAP funds) to an agricultural operation over a period of three years without having to inform the Commission, guardian of the competition from the EU.
Beyond that, they must detail this financing to Brussels, which may possibly oppose it due to the EU’s drastic rules on state aid. During a meeting of European Ministers of Agriculture on Monday in Luxembourg, at least 15 countries, led by Germany, formally asked Brussels to increase this aid ceiling to 50,000 euros (per farm, over three years). called “de minimis”. “The amount set in 2019 does not take into account the economic situation, (this change) would be very effective, concretely helping farmers, non-bureaucratic, and not leading to environmental degradation,” argued German Minister Cem Özdemir before the meeting.
“A sensible and necessary measure”
“I assume that the Commission will take this into account, that we will move quickly to implementation,” he said. His Austrian counterpart Norbert Totschnig welcomed “a sensible and necessary measure”. Certainly, the Twenty-Seven still benefit from the temporary framework adopted to respond to the crisis in agricultural markets caused by the war in Ukraine, which allows Member States, until the end of June 2024, to grant up to 280,000 euros to companies agricultural sectors affected by the crisis. This framework, which could be extended for six months, remains temporary and fuels “uncertainty”, however, underlines French Minister Marc Fesneau, who also vigorously supports this increase.
“Crises follow one another, we put in place + modus operandi + which are not efficient because we immediately saturate: when we see the accumulation of crises – health, climate, economic -, it poses a structural problem” in due to ceilings being reached too quickly, he insisted, hoping for “a constructive dialogue” with Brussels. “The + de minimis + framework (of aid) must evolve, if only in terms of indexation to inflation (…) but not all countries have the financial capacity to be able to help their farmers”, however warned Belgian Minister David Clarinval, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU. In the absence of sufficient budgetary margins, “certain countries have rather a desire for a global and shared response” at the European level, he observed.
According to a European source, during a debate between ministers, a total of 17 states spoke in favor of increasing the level of “de minimis” aid, even if some were concerned about the impact on the common market. , and only one State explicitly spoke out against it, keen to preserve fair market conditions. In the end, the Commission will decide: the European executive “is already working on this file, we are examining the proposals”, confirmed Monday evening the European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski.
“Faced with disasters, extreme climatic events like the recent frost, our farmers need state aid, we have no other instruments. But in the future, it will be necessary to strengthen our intervention instruments in European level”, he added, in reference to the CAP crisis reserve, the amount of which he calls for to be increased.