EU ministers of agriculture emphasized the need to take assistance measures

At the meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council held on September 5th in Brussels, ministers discussed the effects of the sanctions of Russia on the EU food sector. The ministers said that the situation was caused from outside the sector of agriculture and the food sector needed the EU CAP assistance measures.

„Additional measures to help the sectors of milk, meat and fish are under consideration, but to make decisions a more thorough analysis is needed  and this is not possible in one month,“ Minister of Agriculture Ivari Padar said. „The Commission will gather additional information on the effects of sanctions from the Member States and make proposals for additional measures on the basis of this information.“ „By countries, needs differ greatly. In some countries citrus fruit growers are in difficulties, in other countries the sectors of milk and beef suffer most. It is very important to make sure that the solutions taken are objective in order not to cause any conflict between different states,“ Padar said. So far, the first measures to help the sector of fruit and vegetables have been taken and additional market organisation measures for the sector of milk have been announced. Private storage measure for milk products will be opened soon by the European Commission and discussions to implement the scheme also in the sectors of meat and fish are going on. At the meeting, Estonia emphasized the importance of the milk products private storage measure and the need to increase intervention purchase prices. This need will be analysed by the European Commission. „Emergency aid for the sectors and regions who have suffered most from Russian embargo is necessary. It is particularly important for primary producers, otherwise the long-term competitiveness of the sector will suffer,“ Minister Ivari Padar said at the meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council. In Estonia, the Russian import ban has hit the sectors of milk and fish the hardest. The sector of pork has also been affected. European ministers of agriculture will assemble again at the end of the month.