GERMANY has expressed hope the “worst” of a killer bacteria outbreak is over as the European Union upped its aid offer to farmers hit by government warnings against eating raw vegetables.

GERMAN support for a strong farm budget cooled this week, with the EU’s biggest paymaster saying all financial decisions have to be seen within the overall context of the EU budget — which Germany wants to limit at no more than 1% of the EU’s GDP.

THE future direction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was one of the issues discussed at a meeting in Brussels yesterday between Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith and European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacien Ciolos.

FARMER protests are set to escalate across Europe, after the only decision taken by agriculture ministers in Brussels, was to give a panel of experts nine months to report back on the dairy crisis.