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Reacting to the new aid package proposed by the EU Commission to help alleviate the drastic situation hitting EU farmers, Copa and Cogeca warned it is far from sufficient to have any noticeable impact.
Copa-Cogeca held a mass demonstration of over 6000 farmers and 2000 tractors to show the EU Commission that farmers are suffering enormously from the severe situation hitting the EU agriculture market, especially in the EU pigmeat, dairy, fruit and vegetable and beef sectors.
According to Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen, "an aid package of 500 million euros is nowhere enough to compensate farmers for the loss of their main export market Russia worth 5.5 billion euros annually [...]. There are a few positive elements in the package but it falls short of our expectations. It includes very few measures to help manage the market or deal with the increasing volatility and short term problems."
In the pigmeat sector, Copa-Cogeca welcome a new private storage aid scheme for pigmeat introduced to help take excess supplies of the market but thinks that we need to learn from the previous scheme in April/May and have higher compensation. Pig fat and lard must also be included. Copa-Cogeca welcome the fact that EU promotion programmes have been boosted and the Commission will step up work on finding new markets but the package lacks export insurance that could cover some of the trading risks.
Monday September 7, 2015/ Copa-Cogeca.
http://www.copa-cogeca.be
