EU governments will be able to hand out half their 2006 national farm subsidies ahead of time to help farmers cope with the effects of this year's drought on crops and livestock, the European Commission said today.
Usually, EU farm subsidies may be paid from the start of December but the Commission, in agreement with national EU-25 experts, has now agreed that countries may bring 50 per cent of their annual payments forward to October 16 if they wish.
"The proposal followed requests from a number of member states following the difficult weather conditions this summer," the Commission said in a statement. "It will be up to the member states themselves to decide whether or not to use this possibility," it said.
Farmers across the 25-member European Union face major financial losses as a result of lower harvests and higher prices for animal feed caused by the unusually hot weather.
Last month, the Commission authorised 13 of the EU's 25 member countries to let their farmers use land that is normally prohibited for agricultural use under EU rules due to searing summer temperatures - some of the hottest weather on record.
The Commission has agreed to bring forward farm subsidy payments on several other occasions, although there is usually a specific technical reason for countries to make such a request.
Last year, the Commission - acting on behalf of the EU's then 15 member states - agreed to bring forward payments of cereals subsidies by one month for farmers whose crops were scorched by a summer heatwave. And in 2002, it handed out hundreds of millions of euros in advance aid to German farmers to compensate them for rain and flood damage.