Commissie staat Duitse deelstaat Saksen toe om boeren gedeeltelijk te compenseren voor schade veroorzaakt door wolven (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Europese Commissie (EC) i, gepubliceerd op woensdag 24 februari 2010.

(Sachsen) to partially compensate farmers for damages caused by carnivores

The European Commission has today authorised the German Land Saxony to grant aid of up to 80% to farmers for damages caused by carnivores. It is the first time the Commission allows such aid. The possibility to grant compensation for damages caused by carnivores is not foreseen in the current State aid legislation. The scheme was therefore approved directly under the provisions of the Treaty. The authorised aid scheme has a total budget of € 200,000 and will run until the end of 2013.

Since the natural resettlement of wolves in Saxony, damages to breeding animals have been occurring. Due to the high protection status of the wolves, farmers are not allowed to take defence measure or even to repel the animals. Repeated damage events have led to serious acceptance problems amongst the population in general and in particular amongst livestock farmers. The Commission has reacted to this special situation in Saxony and has for the first time authorised an aid for the (partial) compensation of damages. Damages to farm animals including herding dogs and bee colonies, costs associated to it, like damages to safety fences or bee houses and the costs for removal of animal carcasses will be covered at 80%. Farmers in the main wolf area ( http://www.wolfsregion-lausitz.de ) must have previously taken respective prevention measures (safety fences, herding dogs) in order to be eligible. Each damage event has to be declared within 24 hours to the local nature protection authority and applications for aid have to be submitted within six months of the reported damage. The aid scheme for the moment only covers damages caused by wolves, but can in the future as well be extended to damages caused by lynx and bear.

The full text of the Commission decision will be published in the State Aid Register on DG Competition’s website under the reference number N 723/09.