EU: EU ministers approve fruit and vegetable aid shake-up

A regulation establishing the EU aid level for producers of certain fruit and vegetables and introducing a scheme to help citrus fruit growers has been approved by EU farm ministers. The British, Danish, Netherlands and Swedish delegations opposed the decision but were outvoted. The proposal fixes the aid for tomatoes at 20.7p per tonne, for peaches at 28.6p per tonne and for pears at 97p per tonne. The ministers set thresholds for each of the Member States concerned giving Italy about half the EU total for tomatoes and pears and Greece about 60% of the aid for peaches.