European Commission
united-kingdom

A temporary UK scheme to grant limited amounts of aid of up to €15,000 (£13,214) to British farmers has been approved by the European Commission.

With a budget of approximately £20 million (€22.3 million), the UK scheme will support farmers who encounter difficulties as a result of the current economic crisis.

Aid can be granted until 31 December 2010 and will take the form of a direct grant, interest rate subsidy loan, with an aid element and guarantee.

The UK-wide scheme is open to farmers in all sub-sectors of primary agricultural production, provided they were not already in difficulty on 1 July 2008 (ie before the beginning of the crisis). Aid will be granted at a country, regional and local level and will be applied in a decentralised way by the relevant aid awarding authorities.

The measures meet all the conditions of the Temporary Crisis Framework. In particular, the UK authorities demonstrated that it is necessary, proportional and appropriate to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy. The Commission therefore considered that the scheme can be approved under Article 107(3)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (former Article 87(3)(b) of the EC Treaty).