EC: Published on regulation of exceptional measures to fruit and vegetables by the Russian veto
The European Commission has published on Saturday, June 11, the Delegate (EU) Regulation 2016/921 of 10th June 2016 establishing new exceptional measures to support producers of fruit and vegetables by the veto Russian. It is expected that this regulation comes into force on 1 July.
These exceptional measures aid target product recalls (both free distribution and other destinations, including in its scope, either Producer Organisations (O.P.) either producers who are not integrated into any of them); the “waiver non-harvesting” and the “green harvesting”.
Products eligible for these support measures are already included in the scope of the previous regulation of aid, the 2015/1369 ending on June 30: pears, apples, plums, table grapes, kiwis, red fruits, tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, cucumbers, mushrooms, oranges, clementines, tangerines and lemons, peaches and nectarines. And two more products are included, sweet cherries and persimmons.
Each Member State is allocated a quota withdrawn. Regulation 2016/921 provides that for Spain the maximum tons of products are assigned as follows: apples and pears (2,300 tons); plums, table grapes and kiwis (1,500 tons); tomatoes, carrots, sweet peppers, cucumbers and gherkins (6,900 tons); oranges, clementines, mandarins (16,600 tonnes) and peaches and nectarines (11,500 tons).
As for the maximum amounts of aid for market withdrawals they are as follows:
Following the entry into force of the Russian veto on 7 August 2014, the European Commission approved the same year the first exceptional measures to offset the losses of fruit and vegetable sector. The last regulation was the 2015/1369 which came into force on August 7, 2015 and ends on June 30 this year. In all cases, it should be clarified that they are not direct aid, but aid withdrawals to balance the markets, being the stablished price much lower than the cost of production, according to the analysis by FEPEX.
