EU Farmers to Receive Only Partial Compensation for Russian Food Ban. (German Minister Urges Europeans to Eat More Fruit)

MOSCOW, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - European farmers, affected by the Russian food ban, will not receive full compensation, German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.

The minister said he did not want people to get the wrong idea that “there would be one-to-one compensation. There can’t be that.”

However, Schmidt said there would be compensation in the form of support in order to get a better “grip on the market.” He also urged people to consume more.

On August 7, Russia introduced a food ban on imports of foodstuffs from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway. The one-year ban targets meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables among other products.

The food embargo was implemented in response to economic sanctions, imposed on Russia by the United States and the European Union over Russia’s alleged role in escalating the crisis in Ukraine, a claim Moscow has repeatedly denied.

Several countries, including Australia, Austria, Poland and Latvia, have already spoken of the negative impact that the Russian food ban will have on their economies.
http://en.ria.ru/world/20140903/192579208/EU-Farmers-to-Receive-Only-Partial-Compensation-for-Russian-Food-Ban.html
3/9/14
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Related:

• EU decision on new sanctions for Russia by Friday."We need to respond in the strongest possible way" (Italy's Mogherini)

• Russia Develops New Retaliatory Measures to Protect Against Possible New Western Sanctions

• EU milk overflowing due to Russian ban

• European farmers seeking to bypass Russian bans with "Made in Turkey"- ("Made in FYROM") tags

• EU announces aid to growers hit by Russian embargo. (125 million euros)

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• German Minister Urges Europeans to Eat More Fruit

Europeans should eat more fruit and vegetables to remedy the impact of Russian restrictions on food imports from the West, Germany's agriculture minister said on Tuesday.

“Eat! You should eat, I should eat, we should eat,” the minister, Christian Schmidt, told German radio.

Europe faces disruption to food markets from import restrictions imposed by President Vladimir Putin, although Schmidt said the situation was manageable.
The one-year Russian embargo, in retaliation for Western economic sanctions over Moscow's actions in Ukraine, affects meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, European Union and others.

“You cannot lament the fact that there is lots of fruit and then not eat fruit, that much is obvious. I need to get rid of it,” Schmidt said in the interview with Deutschlandfunk.

He was due to meet the French and Polish farm ministers in Bonn later on Tuesday to prepare for an EU meeting on Friday to address the impact of the Russian import ban.

• Schmidt said he was looking for alternative markets for produce like German apples in areas like South America and China, saying: “Russia is not the only country in the world that needs apples.”

• In the meantime, he urged Europeans to eat fruit “every morning, five times a day, full stop.”

Reuters
http://www.voanews.com/content/german-minister-urges-europeans-to-eat-more-fruit/2435750.html
2/9/14