The European Union has allocated additional €39 million ($48.7m) to support European agricultural producers affected by Russia’s food products import ban, the European Commission said on Thursday.
“The European Commission has approved 27 programs to promote agricultural production in the European Union and in third countries, Itar Tass reported.
The total budget of the programs is €77.4 million, of which the EU currently contributes €39 million,” the EC said in a statement.
The money will be allocated to promote fresh and processed fruit and vegetables, as well as meat and dairy products.
Russia banned imports of meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the 28-nation European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway for one year at the start of August, retaliating for sanctions imposed by those nations over events in Ukraine.
A total of 9.5 million European farmers have been affected by the ban, according to a statement released by the European Parliament. The European Commission said in September that Europe’s agrarian exports hit by Russia’s food embargo were estimated at €5 billion.
Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lidegor recently admitted that many farmers were affected by Russia’s food embargo. “This is also bad for the Danish economy. This is bad for people who may lose their jobs both in Russia and certainly in Denmark. Such is the situation, which we want to overcome as soon as possible,” he said.
