Commissioner Cioloş in Lithuania to take stock of the situation following Russian restrictions on EU agri-food exports
Commissioner Dacian Cioloş was in Vilnius today and held meetings with representatives of the Lithuanian agricultural and food sector, the Minister of Agriculture, Virginija Baltraitiene, and the European Affairs, Rural and Economic Affairs committees of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.
Speaking in Vilnius, he said: " The European Commission will continue to closely follow developments on the EU markets and will take new targeted actions at European level if necessary. It is very important to use all short term emergency measures in the best way and to develop new outlets to strengthen the resilience of the Lithuanian agri-food sector.
We have reinforced our European promotion tools for agriculture and food products, reallocating 30 million EUR. This is part of the solutions to overcome this difficult period, but it also gives medium and long term perspectives to the Lithuanian agricultural and food sector.
I am ready to assess the relevance of compensation claims for producers. However, to be efficient, any such measures must be well evaluated and targeted at those farmers that are the most affected by the Russian ban.
As for the fruit and vegetable emergency measures suspended this week, I will come in the coming days with targeted measures for the most affected countries with additional funds.
The farming sector in Lithuania has a strong potential. I am confident that, together, we will get through this difficult period".
Lithuania is one of the Member States most severely hit by trade restrictions decided by the Russian Federation on 7 August. Before the ban, 93% of Lithuanian cheese exports, 22% of its beef production and 9% of the pigs slaughtered were sold on the Russian market.
12/09/2014
