The European Commission hasapproved 16 programmes in 12 member states to promote agricultural products in the European Union. Countries participating in the scheme are: Austria, Belgium, Finland,France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal,Spain and the UK.
The total budget of theprogrammes running between one and three years is €62.1m, ofwhich the EU will contribute €27.8m. The selected programmescover fruit and vegetables, as well as organic products, dairy products, meat, wine, olive oil, honey and flowers.
On17 December 2007, the two existing EU regulations oninformation provision and promotion measures were merged to form a single EU regulation,3/2008, which covers both the internal market and third countries.
Themeasures financed within this framework can consist of publicrelations, promotional or publicity actions, in particular highlightingthe advantages of EU products, especially in terms of quality, hygiene,food safety, nutrition, labelling, animal welfare orenvironment-friendliness of their production.
These measures can alsocover participation at events and fairs, information campaigns on theEU system of protected designations of origin (PDO), protectedgeographical indications (PGI) and traditional speciality guaranteed(TSG), information on EU quality and labelling systems and organicfarming.
The EU finances up to50 per cent of the cost of these measures, but notably for the fresh produce sector this rises to as much as 60 per cent in programmes promotingthe consumption of fruit and vegetable by children.
The remainder is met by theprofessional or inter-branch organisations which have proposed them and/or bythe member states concerned.
Detailed rules for applying those promotion and information measures are laid down by the Commission regulation, which lists the themes and products that can be covered by the promotion measures.
Eachyear, by 30 November, interested professional organisations can submittheir proposals to the member states, These then have to send theCommission the list of programmes they have selected and a copy of eachprogramme. Subsequently, the Commission evaluates the programmes anddecides on their eligibility.
The full list of programmes and budgets adopted today is available through the Europa.eu Press Room.
