Europese Commissie fiatteert staatssteun aan minder bedeelde Finse regio's (en)

woensdag 16 maart 2005

The European Commission has today authorised Finland to pay state aid worth a total of € 120.3 million per year to compensate farmers for natural handicaps in less favoured areas. The new state aid would be combined with existing support for less favoured areas co-financed by the European Union (EU) in the framework of the Finnish rural development program. The aid consists of a basic payment of 20 €/ha in support areas A, B and C1 and 25 €/ha in support areas C2-C4. This basic payment is granted for all areas eligible for a co-financed allowance. In addition, area situated in animal husbandry farms receives an additional payment of 80 €/ha.

The Commission has ensured that the combined sum (existing co-financed support, new basic payment and new additional payment) does not exceed € 250 per hectare on average. The amount of the new basic payment and additional payment will be controlled annually. If necessary, they will be reduced proportionally in the whole of the country so that the maximum average payment of 250 €/ha is not exceeded. For this reason, the Finnish authorities will currently pay the aid at 92 % of its maximum level (i.e. € 18.4 or € 23 for the basic payment and € 73.6 for the additional payment).

The Commission has come to the conclusion that the combined payments to less favoured areas in Finland comply with EU legislation, in particular with point 6 of the Community Guidelines for State aid in the agriculture sector and Articles 14 and 15 of the Regulation on support for rural development [1] , for the following reasons:

  • the payments are distributed geographically in such a way that areas with lowest yields benefit the most
  • the sectors facing particular structural problems due to natural handicaps receive more aid
  • there is no overcompensation when the payment levels are compared with those in comparable regions in the Community.

The text of the decisions will shortly be made available on the Internet at:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgb/droit_com/index_en.htm#aides

under the aid number N 284/2004.

[1] Regulation (EC) 1257/99 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee fund (EAGGF)

Meer over ...