The Minister of Agriculture says that she is leaving Brussels “satisfied” by the “openness shown by the European Commission” to the arguments of the Portuguese Government, which warns about the consequences of the drought.
Spain, France and Italy followed the position of Portugal. The four countries ask for the mobilization of European money.
Maria do Céu Antunes says that Brussels is studying the mobilization of European funds, to distribute to farmers in the most affected countries.
“The commissioner offered to study the possibility of mobilizing 250 million euros from the agricultural reserve to deal with these situations and for the Member States most affected by this dimension”, said the minister, adding that, for this reason, she is “particularly pleased with the openness shown by the Commission”.
Italy, France and Spain follow the arguments of the Portuguese Government, which expects flexibility from the Commission to mobilize support “either within the scope of the PDR 2020, the Rural Development Program, or within the scope of the CAP Strategic Plan, already in force, (…) and with it we face the calamity that we feel on most of the States, that is to say, those of the South of Europe”.
With 40 percent of the national territory in severe or extreme drought, the minister assures that many of the crops have not been developed. But, problems in other components of the agricultural sector.
“Extensive livestock farming, in particular, is having very serious problems because the pastures have not developed and we are witnessing, ahead of time, the use of compound feed at very high prices,” warned the minister.
Source: TSF
