AgroaldeaWOULD NOT COME INTO EFFECT BEFORE FEBRUARY 2009.
The services of the Directorate-General for Agriculture of the European Commission received the last 14 October, the Canarian proposal to change the internal functioning of POSEI*1. The Commission has stated that there will not be a firm decision before the end of the year., as soon as.
The European regulation indicates that the approval of the Community Executive "will not be necessary" when the annual reform plans modify the "amount of aid and the quantities of products that can benefit from the REA" or involve a variation of the 20 percent of aid to local production.
However, since the changes proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture exceed the thresholds set and are too profound, European rules give Brussels “four months” to examine the proposals and make a decision on them.
The main modification proposals included in the presented document affect the livestock sectors, viticultural and tomato growing.
Tomatoes currently receive aid from 3,6 euros for each 100 kilos sold with a limit of 250.000 tons. This represents an annual maximum of 9 million euros.
But the decline in tomato production in the Canary Islands in recent years has meant that the sector has not been able to absorb the total amount of this token and has access to some 5 million euros in total.
Hence, the Canarian approach is based on reducing the number of tons that can receive marketing aid., some 150.000 which would mean some 5,4 million euros.
The remaining financial token that currently cannot be consumed would go into a fund for production, about a few 4,6 million euros.
In addition to this proposal, The Canary Islands propose that additional aid be authorized for the sector, taking advantage of the fact that the Poseis regulations include this possibility that has not yet been used.
*1 Specific program due to the remoteness and insularity that the EU includes for the development of the outermost regions and overseas territories.