On Monday 21 September 2015, Luxembourg's Minister of Agriculture, Viticulture and Consumer Protection, Fernand Etgen, met with agricultural associations for an exchange of views concerning the difficulties currently characterising European agricultural markets, as well as the consequences of this year's drought on the income and livelihood of farmers.
On 15 September 2015, an informal meeting of agricultural ministers held at Kirchberg's European Convention Center allocated an aid package of €500 million to the various Member States whose agricultural industry was struggling. The Grand Duchy was assigned a €700,000 share which led protesting farmers to hurl eggs and milk at the building in demonstration.
Minister Etgen yesterday reported the ten conclusions drawn from the meeting, these being:
1- An advance on 70% for direct payments, both basic and greening, will be paid between 15 and 31 October 2015, with the aim of improving the general liquidity of farms.
2- The payment of an advance covering 85% of the compensatory allowance, ordinarily fr February 2016, will also be advanced to the same end for this year.
3- A flat rate proposed by the Europen Commission, in addition to a possible national increase, will be distributed to all farms within the dairy and meat sectors.
4- State participation rates in payments of social security contributions for agricultural hldings will be raised, for a period to be define in terms of recorded income loss, at the same level as applied to the 2011 drought. The first slice of this aid will still be paid at the end of the year. This participation will be used to offset losses incurred by farm holdings following the difficulties of agricultural markets, in particular with regards to the Russian embargo.
5- A drought compensation will be paid to farms to offset certain income losses felt after the summer drought, as soon as the calculations in question are undertaken by the Administration des Services Techniques de l'Agriculture and the Service d'Economie rurale and once the aid in question has been approved by the Community authorities.
6- The Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Consumer Protection will initiate discussions with the Ministry of Finance to introduce a 'Carry back, Carry forward' tax system for farms. This plan, which allows for part of a given annual net loss to be distributed over one or two previous years, should allow farmers to transfer any profits or losses to subsequent years to be used to offset any profits or losses from market price fluctuations.
7- The Ministry will present a model of specifications to the Government which would allow targeted states and municipal institutions, such as hospitals, nursing homes, primary and secondary schools, transition centres and kindergartens, to promoted regional products for meal preparation in these facilities.
8- The Ministry will enhance the means available for the promotion of agricultural products, such as Esou schmaacht Lëtzebuerg.
9- The Ministry will analyse in-depth, along with all the stakeholders in the food chain, the establishment of an inter-professional group as a means of optimising the valuation of quality chains and balancing the functioning of the food chain
10- The Ministry will assess the possibility of increasing financial resources made available in the fight against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis disease.
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