EC suspends support for farmers

The European Commission has suspended financial help for EU farmers suffering from the Russian embargo, the Commission announced in a press release on Thursday. It is now considering a different scheme. According to Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş, the Commission has received motions for an inflated amount of money. Some were even higher than the average annual value of EU exports to Russia. Therefore the €125 million subsidies have been suspended. Member states have now to revise the motions in order to detect irregularities. Unofficial sources report that Polish motions constituted 87 percent of all motions filed to the European Commission. The ceiling amount of subsidy, €82 million for apples and pears, and €43 million for the other fruit and vegetables has been reached, what constitutes another reason for motions suspension. The Russian embargo was imposed as of August 1, 2014 and encompasses EU perishable fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes, carrots, cabbages, sweet peppers, cauliflowers and headed broccoli, cucumbers and gherkins, mushrooms, apples, pears and plums.