EU begins product-by-product review of impact of Russian ban
But they said it was too soon to decide how much, if any, of a €400m EU compensation fund might be paid out to help farmers.
European Agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos interrupted the traditional European Commission August break to return to Brussels at the weekend, together with other senior staff, and on Monday they set up a taskforce.
The aim is to work out alternative markets and to analyse the fallout from Russia’s one-year ban, announced last week, on imports of meat, fish, dairy, fruit, and vegetables from the US, EU, Canada, Australia, and Norway.
With some member states piling on the pressure for redress, they could also agree to award compensation from a special fund signed into law at the end of 2013, as part of agricultural reforms. To date, the fund has never been used.
“We still feel it’s a little bit soon to discuss the cost implications,” Roger Waite, a spokesman for the EU’s executive commission, told reporters.
“We are looking at every product individually. We hope that by Thursday of this week we will be in a position to have a clearer picture of the potential impact so that we can discuss it with the member states.”
Agricultural experts from the EU’s 28 member states will meet in Brussels tomorrow to plan a co-ordinated strategy.
— Reuters
