EU - Agreement to allow early payments of direct aid to farmers

The Management Committee for Direct Payments yesterday gave a positive opinion to a Commission proposal to allow direct aid payments to farmers under the Single Payment Scheme and the Single Area Payment Scheme to be advanced to the 16th October 2009. This follows an undertaking by Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel at the last Agriculture Council to allow earlier payments to help farmers, notably milk producers, who face cash flow problems because of low prices. The measure will be formally adopted in the next few weeks. Member States may pay up to 70 percent of the annual payment from 16 October. Payments are normally only possible from 1 December each year.