Brussels, Belgium
October 24, 2007
USDA/FAS GAIN report number: E47094
Report highlights
The EU energy crop program
has been oversubscribed in 2007. Applications for the 45
Euro/ha energy crop premium have reached 2.84 million
hectares this year. The Maximum Guaranteed Area is 2 million
hectares. The Commission has decided that farmers will
receive the original 45 Euro/ ha for just over 70 percent of
the land on which they claimed aid.
The EU energy crop program has
been oversubscribed this year. Applications for the €45/ha
premium for growing energy crops amount to almost 2.84 million
hectares in the EU27. The Maximum Guaranteed Area (MGA) for this
premium is 2 million hectares. If the MGA is breached, a
reduction coefficient applies to all applications so that the
total premium of €90million/year is not exceeded. A reduction
coefficient of 0.70337 has now been set to ensure that the €90
million budget for this program is not overrun. This means that
farmers will receive the €45/ha for only 70 percent of the area
on which they have claimed aid.
This year is the first time that
10 of the New Member States (NMS) which use Single Area Payment
Scheme (SAPS) have been eligible for this scheme. The MGA was
therefore increased from 1.5 to 2.0 million hectares. The uptake
of the applications for energy crop payment has been very high
in the NMS, something that was expected, since there is no other
additional premium to the SAPS that these MSs apply.
Commissioner Fischer-Boel said:
This payment has been very useful in stimulating the European
biofuels sector, but when we come to the Health Check of the
Common Agricultural Policy next month we will have to ask
whether it is still necessary. We now have a binding target for
biofuels and a blossoming marketplace. |
