Press Release: State aid: Commission authorises temporary Belgian scheme to grant limited amounts of aid of up to €15,000 to farmers

The European Commission authorised on 15 February 2010 a Belgian scheme with a budget of €2.73 million which aims at supporting farmers in Flanders who encounter difficulties as a result of the current economic crisis. Aid under this scheme can be granted until 31 December 2010 and will take the form of interest subsidies and guarantees. This scheme is a further application of the Commission's Temporary framework for State aid measures to support access to finance in the current financial and economic crisis, as amended end of October 2009 in order to allow Member States to grant limited amounts of aid to primary agricultural producers (see IP/08/1993 ).