The government of the Netherlands will double the amount of funding available to give out to farmers whose financial performance is impacted by the war in Ukraine.
The European Commission has approved amendments to an existing Dutch scheme, which include a budget increase from €50 million to €100 million.
The aim of the scheme is to support agricultural producers in the context of the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
The commission approved the original scheme in February this year. Under the scheme, the aid consists of limited amounts of aid in the form of direct grants.
The measure is open to agricultural producers in the Netherlands who joined an eco-scheme under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Pillar I, and who are at risk of losing financial liquidity due to the difficulties in the agricultural sector provoked by the war.
As well as increasing the budget, the amendments also extend the scope of the scheme, to include farmers participating in the eco-scheme in 2024 as beneficiaries.
According to the commission, the proposed amendments by the Dutch governments remain necessary, appropriate and proportionate to address a serious disturbance in the economy of a member state. On that basis, the commission approved the amendments under EU state aid rules.
In general, EU member states require prior approval from the commission before providing any funding that qualifies as state aid.
The commission has also approved state aid funding that will allow Italy to increase the amount of state aid it provides for investment in photovoltaic (PV) solar panels in the agricultural sector.
This increase in funding comes from the EU-funded Recovery and Resilience Facility, and therefore is not covered by a ban on PV installations on farmland that the Italian government proposed in May.
The commission confirmed last week that, under EU state aid rules, it had approved an amendment to a existing scheme to support the investment in PV panels in agriculture in Italy.
The approved amendment will see an almost doubling of the funding available to Italian farmers and agri-businesses for PV installation, with the scheme’s budget increasing by €785 million to around €1.6 billion.