Agroaldea
The European Commission prefers not to provide specific aid figures to compensate the European agricultural sector for the restrictions that Russia has imposed on agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables and other agri-food products from the European Union..
The spokesperson for Agriculture of the Community Executive, Roger Waite, has indicated that “We believe that it is still too early to discuss the exact amounts”, adding that “We're not going to jump in with immediate answers.. We have the mechanisms (emergency aid for crisis situations). We can support farmers if there are problems, but we need to first analyze the potential impact”, he claimed.
Roger Waite clarified that “we have to look at each product individually. We hope that by Thursday, when we have called a meeting of the Management Committee with the Member States, “Let us be in a position to have a clearer picture of the potential impact to be able to discuss this with States.”.
There is already a working team created by the Commission that this Monday began to analyze the potential impact of Russian sanctions, at the expense of what may happen in other world markets.
Waite explained that the Commission is aware that European exporters have lost a market but, he claimed, “We are not sure if by Thursday we can reach firm conclusions about whether or not we can export anywhere else. The compensation issue will last much longer”, Indian, lowering expectations of rapid European compensation to support the sector.
The EU has a crisis fund of just over 400 million euros, although the community Executive estimated last week in 5.252 million euros the value of European exports to the Russian market in 2013 corresponding to agricultural and food products banned by Russia this week, which include fruits, vegetables, milk products, meat and fish.
Retaliatory measures
The European Commission considers that the measures taken by the Russian Federation are retaliation for the European sanctions imposed for its role in the conflict in Ukraine, and not in response to phytosanitary concerns, therefore they are not subject to international law, community sources have indicated.
The Community Executive will talk with third countries like China, Brazil and others “They could potentially replace our exports to Russia so that they do not take unfair advantage of the current situation due to the veto of European agri-food products., add these sources.
The EU will once again turn to the World Trade Organization for this new veto if it determines that it is the most effective way, although it is studying all options and is consulting with other parties affected by Russian sanctions.