Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

Representatives of the member states in the Special Committee on Agriculture have approved providing more assistance to EU countries affected by the recent unprecedented natural disasters through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). According to a statement issued by the federal institutions in Brussels today, Tuesday,

"The European Union is working to enable Member States with unused rural development funds from the previous programming period to respond quickly and flexibly to the devastating effects of recent natural disasters. This will allow EU countries to use uncommitted rural development funds for the period 2014-2020 for recovery and reconstruction, by providing emergency assistance to farmers, foresters and businesses affected by climate-related disasters." According to the statement, István Nagy, the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture, whose country currently holds the rotating EU Presidency, added: “The proposal is a direct response to recent climate-related disasters and concerns amendments to the Regulation governing the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Once the amended Regulation is formally adopted and enters into force, Member States will have greater flexibility to provide emergency support to farmers, forest owners and businesses affected by natural disasters.
Key elements
Thanks to the proposal, Member States will be able to reprogram uncommitted EAFRD funds remaining from the 2014-2020 programming period to rapidly provide emergency assistance to farmers, forest owners and SMEs affected by climate-related disasters that have occurred since 1 January 2024.
The assistance can be financed 100% by unused EU funds from the 2014-2020 EAFRD and will come in the form of lump sums up to a maximum of €42,000 per beneficiary. The proposal does not amend existing budget commitments, meaning it is budget-neutral.
Furthermore, Member States will have the flexibility to introduce and strengthen measures to restore the production potential of affected farms and forests.

The proposal also reduces the administrative burden for both EAFRD aid recipients and national administrations.

Once the regulation is adopted, the Member States concerned will have to decide how much funding to remobilise to deal with the recent disasters, according to their specific needs. They will then be asked to submit programme amendments to the Commission for review and approval.

The proposal will now have to be adopted in the plenary session of Parliament. The regulation will be formally adopted by the Council, signed by representatives of the Council and Parliament and published in the Official Journal. It will enter into force on the date of its publication.

The short time between the publication of the proposal by the Commission (21 October 2024) and its expected entry into force by the end of the year shows that the three institutions are committed to quickly addressing the income losses faced by European farmers and foresters due to the recent devastating climate disasters.
According to official sources from the federal institutions, the Commission’s proposal is a direct response to the devastating floods that hit Central and Eastern Europe and the wildfires that swept through Southern Europe in 2024. These floods had a devastating impact on the people living and working in these regions and led to huge income losses for the agricultural and forestry sectors.

In parallel, the Commission has also proposed amendments to the regulations governing the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), for the programming period 2021-2027. This is part of the broader EU response that offers Member States the possibility of receiving support in the wake of climate disasters. This separate proposal is also currently subject to the regular legislative procedure.

In addition, the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plans (2023-2027) support investments aimed at restoring agricultural or forestry potential in the wake of natural disasters, adverse climate events or catastrophic events. This includes measures that contribute to mitigating and adapting to climate change, with a budget of €93 billion for the period 2023-2027. The CAP 2023-2027 also includes an agricultural reserve of at least €450 million per year, to help farmers deal with market disruptions or exceptional events affecting agricultural production or distribution. In recent years, the reserve has been deployed on several occasions to support farmers directly affected by exceptional adverse climate events.