New agriculture state aid rules planned

The EU continues the slow reform of its farm sector on 6 December with plans to simplify state aid rules.

Companies turning farm produce into processed foods will no longer be the responsi-bility of the agriculture department and instead fall under general EU state aid rules.

State aid can be granted to farmers dealing with problems such as animal diseases or droughts.

EU farmers coalition COPA-COGECA said it was pleased the Commission had dropped an early idea to rule out state aid in a number of cases, including aid for the purchase of breeding animals. The new rules will come into force on 1 January.

Talks on raising an existing treshold of €3,000 over three years for agricultural state aid are under way but no date has been set for a decision.

The EU continues the slow reform of its farm sector on 6 December with plans to simplify state aid rules.