Fruits and vegetables. The State launches a plan of 15 million euros
August 7, 2009 - Comment on this article
The Minister of Agriculture, Bruno Le Maire, announced yesterday the details of his emergency plan for fruit and vegetable producers, which will cost 15 million euros.
The government announced the color yesterday on its plan of "immediate and targeted support", proposed Wednesday by the Minister of Agriculture Bruno Le Maire, to help fruit and vegetable producers. The amount announced for this aid should amount to 15 million euros. An amount which should be used in the first place to calm the discontent of the producers, even though, according to the Echoes, the reimbursement of public aid could "be closer to 700 million euros than 500 million". This emergency plan will mainly concern "producers, of which at least 50% of the activity is done on products currently in crisis", indicated the ministry.
A "first step"
It will consist first of all in "the assumption of responsibility of the interest of loans of the producers for 2009, up to 10% of the annuities of their loans". For young farmers and producers who have invested for less than five years, this rate will be increased to 20%. The plan will also include support for operators' social contributions, when they are in default. In addition to the State contribution, this plan will also benefit from the support of the Mutualité sociale agricole. "All this aid will be Euro-compatible", also assured Bruno Le Maire.
New deadline for the report
Bruno Dupont, president of FNPFruits, a specialized branch of the FNSEA, considered that the plan was a “first step”, while the Confédération paysanne declared that it was “not satisfied” with the measures, because of their amount. insufficient. Beyond the negotiations with the farmers, France succeeded in obtaining a new deadline, without constraint of deadline, to return its report to the European Commission, at the end of "frank and open negotiations". The last known deadline was set for September 29. The ministry finally recalls that a round table on the competitiveness of the "fruit and vegetables" sector will be organized on September 22. An appointment already eagerly awaited.
the news source telegram