EC suspends emergency payments for fruit and vegetables

The European Commission has today suspended the emergency market measures for perishable fruit and vegetable markets (worth 125 million €) announced on August 18 in the wake of the Russian measures banning imports of certain EU agricultural products. There has been strong interest from the sectors concerned, but the scheme has to be closed due to a disproportionate surge in claims – for example where the figures submitted for some products are several times higher than the total EU average annual exports to Russia.

In order to prolong the effectiveness of the emergency measures and still achieve the objective of stabilising the markets for these products in all Member States affected by the Russian embargo, the European Commission will come forward with a more targeted scheme in the near future, taking into account the experience of the past weeks.

European Commission Dacian Cioloş stated: "The European Commission remains committed to support those producers who have suddenly lost an important market because of the Russian measures. I intend to present a new scheme in the coming days which is more targeted and efficient and which will continue on from this scheme."