European producers association Copa-Cogeca has sent a letter to MEPs urging them not to approve European Commission plans to slash agriculture spending in the 2015 EU budget and re-allocate it.
The group described the planned move as “totally unacceptable”, warning that farmers and agri-cooperatives face an “unprecedented crisis” caused by the Russian ban on agricultural exports worth €11bn.
Speaking in Brussels, Copa-Cogeca secretary general Pekka Pesonen said: “Prices have plummeted by over 50 per cent for some agriculture products as a result of the Russian ban. Now is not the time to start cutting agriculture expenditure in 2015 and re-directing it for other purposes.
“Farmers must not pay twice for this embargo which was not their fault in the first place. We cannot accept another blow to the agriculture sector. Farmers feel like they have been left out in the cold.”
Pesonen also suggested that further measures to help alleviate pressure on producers hit by the embargo were crucial.
“It is totally irresponsible that the Commission should consider reducing funds now when farmers and agri-cooperative need all the help they can get,” he said. “Normally 29 per cent of EU fruit and vegetable exports are normally sent to Russia, 24 per cent of pigmeat exports and 33 per cent of cheese exports.
“Yet farmers and agri-cooperatives have received only a fraction of the total value of the exports as compensation. With food demand set to rise by 60 per cent by 2050, we cannot afford to cut spending and jeopardise food production.”
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