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

The European Commission authorised on 21 April 2010 an Austrian scheme with a budget of approximately €1.2 million which aims at supporting farmers in Austria 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 direct grants, interest rate subsidies, subsidised loans and subsidised 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/09/1993 ).