2023-05-11 08:36:56
According to information to which EFE has had access, the new package of measures to combat the drought will contain direct aid for the agricultural sector.
The measures will be detailed in the press conference after the Council of Ministers by the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera; and the head of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas.
Measures taken
Since last year, The Executive has taken measures to support the agricultural sector to deal with the droughtsuch as the decree of March 15, 2022 with aid in fiscal, labor, social and financial matters, valued at 450 million euros.
Said norm was approved days after the meeting of the National Table of Drought in which a permanent working group was created to monitor the impact of water scarcity on agriculture.
At the last meeting of the Drought Table, on April 19, it was found that the drought situation was “serious and widespread”, although with different degrees of affectation between crops and territories.
In recent months the Government has given other aid to the cattle raising and the citrus sector, as well as to alleviate the increase in the cost of fertilizers, worth 650 million euros.
The social quotas for companies and the self-employed have been postponed, reducing the number of laborers necessary to be entitled to the agricultural subsidyand equated the hiring as discontinuous permanent in the Special Agrarian System of the Social Security.
Among the fiscal measures, The income from Personal Income Tax (IRPF) has recently been reduced by 25% in the system of modules for all producers, with higher coefficients in certain crops.
Along with other reductions, The Government estimates the scope of this tax reduction at 1,807 million euros on the tax base, a “historic” figure compared to 1,093 million last year.
The government has also earmarked 25 million euros to subsidized loans and guarantees, and increased aid for contracting agricultural insurance, with a budget of 257.7 million euros in 2022 and 317.7 million in 2023.
CAP and water policy
Regarding the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), The Executive has requested an increase in the advance payment of the aid that can be paid from next October 15 and the easing of the conditions to access payments due to drought.
Government sources have recalled that there has been an “unprecedented increase” in investments in water, of almost 70% since 2018, up to 541 million euros.
The quotas of the regulation canon and the tariffs for water use in the Guadiana and Guadalquivir basins have been reduced between 50 and 100%, where emergency works have been undertaken, and water from state desalination plants and the Júcar-Vinalopó pipeline has become cheaper.
In addition, There are plans to invest 23,000 million euros more in the approved hydrological plans, 3,167 million euros in water until 2026 with European funds, 2,150 million euros to modernize irrigation systems and 1,600 million for purification, sanitation, reuse, efficiency, digitization, restoration of ecosystems and security.
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