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The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it will provide €10m to fund promotional programmes for agri-food products, including fruit and vegetables, wine, dairy and plants.

The measure is part of the aid approved by Brussels in support of the European agricultural sector, which has been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Of the total, €5m will go to single programmes and €5m towards programmes involving multiple countries.

In the first case, proposals must be submitted by one or more organisations in the same member state. In the second, the proposals must come from at least two organisations from at least two member states or from a European organisation.

The tender process will be open until 27 August and focus on the sectors hardest hit by the crisis. The selected promotion programmes can be carried out both in the community block and outside the EU and will last one year.

This is the first time the EU has allocated promotion aid as a direct consequence of the existence of serious problems in the market for agri-food products.