Briefing 
 

Measures to help EU farmers to cope with Russian embargo on EU foodstuffs 

MEPs will quiz Commissioner Cioloş on Monday afternoon on what else the EU can do to help its farmers cope with the impact of the Russian import embargo on EU fruit and vegetables, dairy and meat products and to avoid market collapses.

Action taken by the Commission so far includes publicly-funded market measures for peaches and nectarines (worth €32.7 million) and milk and dairy products such as cheese and butter. Separate measures to help producers of perishable fruits and vegetables such as apples and pears, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and others (worth €125 million), were suspended on 10 September due to a "disproportionate surge in claims" and will be redesigned shortly, says the Commission’s latest statement.


In the first Agriculture Committee debate since Russia imposed the import ban on 7 August, MEPs urged the Commission to do more to alleviate effects of the Russian embargo. Help for producers should be funded from outside the EU agriculture budget, so as to avoid slashing direct payments for all EU farmers, they said. MEPs also asked the Commission to focus more on long-term solutions, such as helping farmers to find alternative markets.


EU farm produce exports to Russia were worth €11.9 billion in 2013.


Procedure: Oral question to the Commission

Debate: Monday, 15 September


#RussianBan #RussianEmbargo, #Russia #Ukraine

#agriculture #ban #Russia