A temporary UK scheme to grant limited amounts of aid of up to €15,000 (£13,214) to UK farmers affected by the economic crisis has been approved by the European Commission.
With a budget of approximately £20 million, the UK scheme will support farmers who encounter difficulties as a result of the current global economic conditions.
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, before the beginning of the economic 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 scheme is intended to complement other crisis measures already put in place by the UK authorities under the Temporary Crisis Framework.
The initiative is a further application of the European Commission's temporary framework for state aid measures to support access to finance in the current financial and economic crisis, as amended at the end of October 2009, in order to allow member states to grant limited amounts of aid to primary agricultural producers.
