French farmers refuse to repay €330m - by Esther Bintliff
French farmers have rejected a demand to repay hundreds of millions of euros in state subsidies that have been ruled illegal by the European Commission. François Lafitte, leader of Fédécom, the fruit and vegetable producers’ union, said paying back the €330m given to farmers between 1992 and 2002 would bankrupt them.Between 1992 and 2002, the French state agricultural agency awarded over €330m in grants to help farmers struggling from a crisis of oversupply of French products in the European market. The money was meant to help farmers lower their prices and find temporary storage for surplus harvest.
Bruno Le Maire, France’s new agriculture minister, said the cash would have to be repaid as the subsidies violated European law. “We must act as Europeans,” he said in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper.
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