Ewe premium to double next year
19 December 2001
Ewe premium to double next year
By Philip Clarke in Brussels
EWE premiums will more than double next year, after an agreement for a new flat-rate payment reached in Brussels on Wednesday (19 December).
Returning to a deal they abandoned last month, European farm ministers took little time to endorse the European Commission proposals.
Next years payments will be 21/ewe (about 13 at current exchange rates), with a
7/ewe top-up for the less favoured areas.
Ministers also agreed an extra 72m to go into a national envelope – equivalent to
1 per sheep – to be spent at member states discretion.
The UK will get just over 20m, the largest share of any member state.
Rural Affairs Secretary Margaret Beckett also won a concession to deduct another 1/sheep from the
21 flat rate put into the national envelope.
She wants to use the money for an English quota buy-up scheme to reduce over-stocking and help with restructuring in the wake of foot-and-mouth.
But Welsh farm minister Carwen Jones indicated that he would use the cash for an across-the-board top up for the first year
That approach is likely to be repeated in Northern Ireland and Scotland.