Press Release: CAP Reform: Commission welcomes Council agreement on reform of banana regime

The European Commission welcomes the 19 December 2006 agreement by EU agriculture ministers on a thoroughgoing reform of the aid scheme to banana producers. The reform will bring the system into line with reforms in the other agricultural sectors, while ensuring a fair standard of living for EU banana producers and taking account of the particularities of the regions where bananas are grown. The reform, based on a proposal from the Commission, will abolish the current compensatory aid scheme for banana growers. Instead, money used to support banana producers will be added to the so-called POSEI programme, which supports agricultural production in the outermost regions of the EU. For bananas produced in regions other than the outermost regions, the money will be transferred to the Single Payment Scheme which applies to agricultural products covered by previous reforms. The new rules will apply from the beginning of 2007.

European Commission: DG Agriculture and Rural Development: Bananas http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/bananas/index_en.htm

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