Farm insurance: commission approves Dutch incentives for crop insurance

摘要

The Dutch Government will be allowed to push ahead with a scheme that will subsidise crop insurance to encourage more insurance companies to offer services in this area, after the European Commission authorised the proposed state aid on October 15. The aid will be given in the form of a guarantee worth up to Euro 50 million on policies covering rain damage to crops. It is intended to change the way that the Dutch farm sector deals with this problem by weaning farmers off state compensation. The Commission is hoping that the idea will catch on around Europe, cutting the need for emergency compensation: schemes are already up and running in Spain, for instance. EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler said he welcomed "efforts of Member States to establish aid schemes encouraging farmers to obtain insurance cover against such damage as such schemes enhance transparency in the compensation of damage and give farmers responsibility for organising their own protection against damage".