EU approves agricultural programmes worth €48.2 million
The European Commission has approved 20 programmes in 11 member states to promote and provide information on agricultural products in the European Union. A first series has been approved in June 2004. The total budget for the programmes is €48.2 million ($62.693 million), of which the EU will contribute half of that and the rest will be financed by professional organisations and the member states involved.
The programmes cover organic products, olive oil, milk, meat, eggs, wine, fruit, flowers, mushrooms and potatoes. The EC selected 20 programmes out of the submitted 34 from
The idea goes back to December 2000 when the Council decided that the EU could assist in financing public relations, promotional or publicity actions on agricultural products and food on the EU Internal market. Application rules were laid down by a regulator in January 2002 and interested professional organisations can submit their proposals to the member states each year on January 31 and July 31.
