Commissioner says no 'sackful of money' to help EU farmers in pandemic

EU farmers’ worst fears were confirmed this week when Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski admitted there is no “sackful of money” he can dip into, in response to calls from farmers, farmers’ organisations, and the Member States, to deploy pandemic market intervention measures as quickly as possible.

“These are legitimate expectations, and if the Commission had a sackful of money, it would dip into it straight away. However, we are in the last year of the current financial framework, and there is no such sack,” he told members of the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, in a videoconference speech.

He said the most significant Covid-19 problems have affected the flower-growing sector, where the market has almost entirely ground to a halt, and agri-tourism farms, which are experiencing the same difficulties as the rest of the tourism sector.

“Among traditional agricultural sectors, the hardest hit are dairy and meat production. Fruit and vegetable producers, who are highly dependent on external labour, are facing problems too.”

“So our farmers need significant help, and they need it quickly.”

But financial constraints have allowed only relatively minor initiatives.

This is in stark contrast with the US, where Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will extend an aid package worth $15.5 billion to farmers, including purchase of milk and meat products.

In Japan, a €4.6 billion supplementary budget to support the food and agricultural sectors is on the way, even as the International Monetary Fund predicted the pandemic will cause the worst global recession since the Great Depression nearly a century ago.

Commissioner Wojciechowski said, “Some people are calling for the immediate deployment of the crisis reserve, for which €478 million in available in the budget.

However, we are all too aware that releasing the crisis reserve ultimately means less money for direct payments, the money that our farmers constantly rely on. This would not appear to be a good move in the current crisis.

The budget predicament leaves farmers depending more on national exchequers than on the EU’s Common Agriculture Budget, to withstand Covid-19 setbacks.

The Commissioner said Member States may grant up to €100,000 per farm, and €800,000 per processing plant, after the EU increased State aid limits.

“Some will say that State aid is by no means a favour from the EU, and that’s true. However, the EU budget is what it is. It is what the Member States approved seven years ago by political consensus and there is no more money available in it,” MEPs were told.

Commissioner Wojciechowski admitted some farms and agricultural processing companies need immediate help, as their very existence is threatened. “In this instance, initial aid can be deployed most quickly by the Member States.”

“There might be more money in the forthcoming financial framework for the next seven years, but that’s a matter for another day and is, of course, subject to agreement. For the time being, we have what we have and we will not get any more.”

The only other possible new funding to help farmers is unused rural development funds. But these are already fully allocated to various schemes by many countries, including Ireland.