EU go-ahead for Bulgarian aid for farming
The European Commission (EC) said on April 21 2010 that it was authorising a Bulgarian scheme with a 20 million leva budget aimed at supporting agricultural holdings active in the primary production, marketing and processing of agricultural products that are in difficulties because of the economic crisis.Aid under this scheme can be granted until December 31 2010 and will take the form of a direct grant, the EC said.The scheme is in line with the EC's temporary framework for state aid measures to support access to finance in the current financial and economic crisis, the Commission said.The scheme is open to all undertakings in the agricultural sector, provided they were not already in difficulty on July 1 2008, meaning, in the words of the EC, before the beginning of the crisis.The scheme provides aid in the form of direct grants.The aid may not be more than 15 000 euro for each undertaking."The notified scheme will be applied at national level and administered by the State Fund Agriculture," the EC said.The commission said that the scheme meets all the conditions of the temporary crisis framework."In particular, the Bulgarian authorities demonstrated that it is necessary, proportional and appropriate to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy," the EC said.