The European Commission has promised compensation for Polish farmers affected by the latest Russian embargo on food imports from Europe, local media reported Friday.
The development transpired after a meeting between Polish Minister of Agriculture Marek Sawicki and European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos.
Their discussions focused mostly on the apple market with initial proposals for financial support set to be known next week.
Local media reported that apart from the apple market, Poland is also interested in compensation for producers of peppers, cabbage, mushrooms, currants, cherries and tomatoes.
European Union (EU) officials said they would first analyze all the possibilities of facilitating exports, finding other markets as well as analyze processing capacity or storage of products.
The EU reserves almost 400 million euros (535.6 million U.S. dollars) a year for agriculture crises. Russia banning food imports from the EU is likely to cause farmers from other countries to ask for financial support.
The European Commission estimates Russia's sanctions would affect about half of the EU's agri-food product exports, with expected losses of more than 5 billion euros.
Polish producers are expected to loose nearly 850 million euros due to the Russian embargo on pork, vegetables, fruit and other items.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that Russia is imposing a ban on food imports from the EU and the United States.
The measures were taken in retaliation for the Western sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.
The Russian government imposed a one-year ban on imports of beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheeses, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from Australia, Canada, the EU, the United States and Norway, the Itar-Tass news agency quoted Medvedev as saying.
He said that Russia has long restrained from responding to the sanctions imposed by the West.
