Spain requests EU intervention over rye stocks

Officials from the 25 European Union member states discussed 11 August 2005 a request from Spain to transfer about 500,000 tonnes of rye from Germany to offset shortages brought on by drought. The EU has already agreed to ship about 41,000 tonnes of maize from Hungary, and a smaller quantity of barley from Germany, to Spain, the country that has suffered most from the drought afflicting southern Europe.