Agriculture, Baltic, EU Regional Policy, EU – Baltic States, Funds, Markets and Companies

The allocation for the Latvian farmers is EUR 9,760,362.

Lithuanian cattle farmers will receive EUR 13,298,661 and Estonian farmers EUR 8,081,123.

"Coming at a time of significant budgetary pressures, this package provides a further robust response, and means that the Commission has mobilized more than EUR 1 billion in new money to support hard-pressed farmers. Our ultimate goal is to see the much needed recovery of prices paid to farmers, so that they may make a living from their work and continue to provide safe, high quality food for citizens, as well as their contribution to rural areas and rural jobs and the provision of public goods," EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, told EU agriculture ministers.

The support package contains three main elements.

EUR 150 mln have been provided to a EU-wide scheme to incentivise a reduction in milk production.

EUR 350 mln have been earmarked as conditional adjustment aid to be defined and implemented at the member state level out of a menu proposed by the Commission. Member states will be allowed to match this aid with national funds, thus potentially doubling the level of support being provided to farmers.

A range of technical measures to provide flexibility (e.g. on voluntary coupled support), cash-flow relief (e.g. through an increase in the amount of the advances for both direct and area-based rural development payments) and reinforce the safety net instruments (by prolonging intervention and private storage aid for Skimmed Milk Powder).

The precise details of all the different measures will be finalized in the coming weeks, in consultation with member state experts. The budget implications of the proposed measures will be incorporated in an amending letter to the draft budget 2017 in the autumn.

The Commission's decision provides for an extension of public intervention for skimmed milk powder (SMP) beyond 30 September.

Public intervention for SMP will be extended until end of February 2017, when the standard period resumes. The ceiling up to which SMP is bought-in at fixed price stays at 350 000 tons until the end of December 2016.

Both the standard (between 90 and 210 days storage) and the enhanced (365 day storage) SMP schemes will be extended until the end of February 2017.

The Commission also approved advances to 70% for direct payments from 16 October 2016 and 85% for area-based rural development payments, after finalization of the administrative checks.

Support was updated for withdrawals made by producer organizations in the fruit and vegetables sector.