The EU executive announced on Thursday (2 April) a six-month extension of the extraordinary framework allowing member states to grant support to farms and fishermen, set to expire in June, due to “persisting” market disruptions.

The European Commission amended the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF), under which EU countries could provide up to €280,000 for companies active in the agricultural sector and €335,000 for the fisheries sector, to extend it until December 2024.

The TCTF was created in March 2023 as an amendment to the original Temporary Crisis Framework (TCF), which was adopted in March 2022 to help businesses cope with the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Thursday’s extension only affects agriculture and fisheries and will allow member states to grant aid to companies operating in these sectors for a further six months, without changing the mentioned ceilings.

The decision comes after the EU leaders called for an extension of the framework at a summit on 17-18 April.

The Commission then said on 11 April that it was discussing with member states the possibility of allowing governments to continue to ease farmers’ financial strain “in view of the persisting market disturbances”.

Meanwhile, a recent report on the EU’s single market by former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta warned that the relaxation of state aid rules has led to distortions of competition across the bloc due to differences in spending capacity.

To date, Poland tops the list of countries using the crisis framework to support the agri-food sector – with almost €4 billion in public subsidies – followed by Italy (€2.3 billion), France (€1 billion), and Romania (€770 million).

EU countries provide billions of euros in aid to agri-food sector amid farmer protests

European Union member states have spent billions of euros supporting agricultural and food industries over the past two years, following a temporary relaxation of the bloc’s state aid rules to help businesses cope with the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Small scale support

The Commission also launched a revision of the Agricultural “de minimis” regulation, which allows EU countries to grant companies certain amounts of state aid without formally notifying or obtaining the approval from the EU executive, because they are too small to distort the Union’s internal market.

A coalition of 15 member states led by Germany called for an increase in the ceiling for such small-scale aid at a meeting of Agriculture and Fisheries (AGRIFISH) ministers on Monday (29 April).

Currently, the amount of “de minimis aid” that can be granted to an individual company in the agriculture and fisheries sectors is limited to €20,000 and €30,000, respectively, over a three-year period.

The Agricultural de minimis rules were last revised in 2019 and will expire on 31 December 2027.

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