Press Release: Renewable energy: Commission proposes to extend energy crop aid scheme to all Member States

The European Commission has proposed to extend the energy crop premium introduced by the 2003 Common Agricultural Policy reform to the eight Member States which currently do not benefit from it. This would involve increasing the maximum area which can benefit from the aid to 2 million hectares from 1.5 million at present. In a further push to encourage the production of feedstocks for renewable energy production, the Commission also proposed allowing the Member States to grant national aid of up to 50 percent of the costs of establishing multiannual crops on areas on which an application for the energy crop aid has been made. In the interests of simplifying the management of the CAP, the Commission has also proposed to allow eight Member States which joined the EU in 2004 to continue operating the Single Area Payment Scheme for a further two years until 2010. The countries affected are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.