Support for EU perishable fruit and vegetable producers
A follow up of Russias assault on Ukraine, the trade war between Moscow and the Western countries continues with measures and countermeasures being taken which affect everybody.
Bogdan Matei, 19.08.2014, 13:20
Early this month, president Vladimir Putin signed a decree banning the imports of farm and food products from the countries which had imposed economic sanctions on Russia. The list includes meat and dairy products, as well as fruit and vegetables from the USA, the European Union and their allies — Canada, Australia and Norway. But as the Western countries are loyal to the principles of the international law which Putin’s Russia has violated remorselessly, Brussels does not step back, regardless of the costs entailed by firmness.
On Monday, the European Commission disbursed 125 million Euros to support perishable fruit and vegetable producers affected by the restrictions imposed by Russia. The products targeted by that measure include tomatoes, carrots, white cabbage, apples, pears or eating grapes. According to analysts, there are no storage areas or alternative markets for those season products. That is why, all farmers, no matter if they are members of a producers’ organization or not, will be eligible for those support measures — the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Romanian Dacian Ciolos announced. He promised emergency measures, under the Common Agricultural Policy to reduce the supply and thus prevent the collapse of prices.
EU officials quoted by press agencies make it clear that the main beneficiaries of that support are Poland, Lithuania, Belgium and the Netherlands. Romanian Agriculture Minister, Daniel Constantin, said that Romania was not seriously affected by Russia’s embargo. Irrespective of their political colour, the governments of post-communist Romania have been reticent to the maintenance or consolidation of the commercial dependence on an unpredictable and revanchist Moscow. So, last year, the exports of Romanian farm products to Russia amounted to over 40 million Euros.
In another development however, Romanian vegetable and fruit producers say they cannot sell their production this year because of the in-flow of vegetables and fruit which were supposed to reach the Russian market. In the wake of the embargo, those products were turned back to the EU member states, Romania included, thus blocking the domestic and community trade. And for the absurd situation caused by the Kremlin’s expansionist drive to be complete, while the Western countries find it ever more difficult to deal with the surplus stocks, in Russia, which did away with its vegetable and fruit supply sources, markets are empty and consumers are ever more frustrated and bad-tempered.
