Compensation for Greek producers and businesses in view of the Russian embargo

On 31 July 2014 the competent organs of the European Union decided to impose restrictive measures on the Russian Federation.

Reacting to this embargo on the Russian Federation, the Russian authorities have imposed their own embargo on imports of products from EU Member States.

However, the Cold War dimension assumed by the EU — Russia conflict is having disastrous economic consequences for Greece, since in 2013 the total value of the country’s exports to Russia amounted to EUR 406 million, while in the same year 1.3 million Russian tourists visited Greece, spending over EUR 1.3 billion.

In view of the above, will the Commission say:

What measures will it take — and within what timeframe — to fully compensate and provide financial assistance for Greek producers and Greek businesses that have been irreversibly damaged by this Russian embargo on imports?

Source: European Parliament

Joint answer given by Mr Cioloş on behalf of the Commission

In the context of Russian ban on imports of certain EU agricultural products, the European Commission is introducing temporary exceptional support measures for producers of certain fruit and vegetables most affected by the ban.

The exceptional measures will include market withdrawals, especially for free distribution, compensation for non-harvesting and green harvesting.

The financial assistance will cover all producers whether they are organised in producer organisation or not.

The measures will have retroactive effect from August 18 2014 and will apply, with a budget of EUR 125 million calculated on the basis of an estimate of lost exports to Russia for the corresponding period, until the end of November or until that amount has been reached.

The European Commission and EU Member States are meeting on a weekly basis to monitor the impact the ban and further measures will be taken if necessary.

For background information and more detail, please see the documents below:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-929_en.htm

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-932_en.htm

Source: European Parliament