EUR 10.7 million EU support for the promotion of quality agricultural products

The European Commission has approved 26 programmes in 12 Member States to provide information on and to promote quality agricultural products in the European Union. The total budget of the programmes is EUR 21.5 million, of which the EU will contribute half. Under a Council Regulation on information and promotion actions for agricultural products on the EU internal market, 12 Member States submitted 30 programme proposals. The Commission selected 26 programmes in those 12 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom) as eligible to receive financing. Eleven of the programmes relate to information about the new EU standards for the marking of eggs. The other programmes cover fruit and vegetables, flowers, wine, olive oil, dairy products and meat as well as organic products and protected denominations of origin or geographical indications (PDO/PGI). The total budget of the programmes running between one and three years is EUR 21.5 million; the EU contribution to the programmes is EUR 10.7 million or 50 percent of the total. The approved programmes are the first series for the year 2004. A second series will be approved towards the end of the year. The annual EU budget available for promotion programmes in the agriculture sector is EUR 48.5 million.