The European Commission has ordered French farmers to repay €30 million in subsidies that were paid out from 1992-2002, provoking a harsh reaction from the farmers. The Financial Times quotes François Lafitte, leader of Fédécom, the fruit and vegetable producers’ union, as saying that “Nobody will pay these subsidies . . . Firstly, because the amounts put forward by Brussels don’t add up. Secondly, because it would spell ruin for the industry.” The money was provided to help the industry face a crisis, but Brussels has ruled that the state aid was unfair competition. EU Business
Posted by Ellen Wallace on 4 August 2009 at 8:33 | permalink
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
News story, GenevaLunch, 4 August 2009.
Filed under: World news
Tags: European Commission, farmers, France, repayment, subsidies, unfair competition
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