Crisis reserve: 435 million euros for European farmers

From 1 December 2016, European farmers who receive direct subsidies from the EU will be given an additional 435 million euros in aid. The money comes from the agricultural crisis reserve fund, in which money from the budget for direct subsidies has been retained annually since 2013, for instance to finance market support measures. The European Commission has indeed made more than 1 billion euros in additional aid available to farmers since September last year, but this is not funded from the crisis reserve, so as not to reduce direct subsidies for farmers.

CETA: vote in the EU Parliament postponed to February

The European Parliament will not vote on the controversial free trade agreement CETA until February. The co-ordinators have agreed that the Trade Committee will vote on the agreement on 24 January, followed by a vote in the plenary session on 2 February. The schedule still has to be signed off by the leaders of the political groups in the EU Parliament.