French press farmers to repay aid

France says its fruit and vegetable growers will have to start paying back hundreds of millions of euros in subsidies deemed illegal by the EU.

But French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said the repayments would be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

In January the European Commission said France would have to recover more than 330m euros (£280m) in state aid which was "incompatible with the market".

The French growers say they are in a crisis and will not repay the funds.

When interest charges are added to what the Commission calls the "market distorting" French subsidies the total comes to about 500m euros.

France, the biggest beneficiary from the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, was criticised by the Commission for state aid granted in 1992-2002 to deal with crises in the fruit and vegetable sector.

The French "contingency plans" for farmers were "a kind of 'national' common market organisation (CMO) superimposed on the Community CMO and seriously affecting its operation," the Commission said.

The subsidies were paid out to cover sales prices, storage, destruction of part of the crop and to provide financial incentives for processing fresh fruit and vegetables, the Commission concluded.

'Blazing summer'

Speaking on Monday, Mr Le Maire said he had begun discussions with the growers after a 29 July deadline for action, set by the Commission, had elapsed.

He told French radio that some of the 500m included "aid that I don't regard as illegal".

In April his predecessor Michel Barnier appealed to the European Court of Justice against the Commission's demand. Mr Le Maire said he would pursue that appeal.

The minister also promised that the goverment would "respond to the unprecedented difficulties faced by fruit and vegetable growers".

The president of the growers' union Fedecom, Francois Lafitte, said "fruit and vegetable growers won't pay" and he threatened a "blazing summer" of protests if the government pressed its demands.

According to Mr Le Maire, pickers get 11 to 13 euros an hour for their labour in France, whereas in Germany it is six euros an hour and in Spain seven.

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