The European Commission – Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) in partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB) continued in 2021 the series of country specific webinars on the ‘Financial needs in the agriculture and agri-food sectors’, launched last year.
Three webinars from the series took place in 2021 featuring the financing of agriculture and agri-food sectors in Italy (10 February), France (17 March) and Poland (11 May). They aimed to further raise awareness on the results of the recently published fi-compass country-specific reports on financing needs in agriculture and agri-food sectors in 24 EU Member states, which compile a comprehensive package of information for practitioners in these sectors on how to enhance the use of EAFRD financial instruments in their 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plans.
Representatives from national authorities, paying agencies, public and private financial institutions and other stakeholders from these countries shared experiences on whether and how EAFRD financial instruments have been used to tackle the constraints in their countries in the 2014-2020 period, as well as insights about the preparations of their CAP Strategic Plans.
During the Italian webinar, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Puglia Regions, Italy, presented their experience in implementing EAFRD financial instruments and the lessons learned.
The EAFRD Revolving Fund for agriculture in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region provides subsidised loans for investments for processing, marketing and developing new agricultural products, as well as improving the performance and competitiveness of agricultural enterprises.
Puglia Region on the other hand, provided an overview of two complementary financial instruments implemented in the Region: the Agricultural Multi-Regional Guarantee Platform of the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the Regional guarantee fund managed by Confidi.
The webinar on France featured examples of three regions using EAFRD financial instruments: Occitanie, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
Representatives from these Regions highlighted the importance of communication between the managing authorities, the banks and final beneficiaries to increase the awareness raising on financial instruments in the agricultural sector.
For example, to facilitate the deployment and dissemination among the relevant stakeholders about Alter’NA (the EAFRD Nouvelle-Aquitaine Fund of Funds launched in November 2018) EIF, in collaboration with the EIB advisory services, developed a fully-fledged web portal to help final recipients and banks check the eligibility criteria for the potential investment to be supported under the instrument.
Representatives from the Cabinet of European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland opened the webinar featuring Poland.
The session focussed on the financial environment in which farmers and processors operate in the Polish banking system, considering the financial institutions involved with the two sectors.
Stakeholders from the EAFRD managing authority and the paying agency, the body implementing the financial instrument (Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego) and the lending commercial and cooperative banks also shared their experiences in implementing the Polish EAFRD Guarantee Fund.
Speakers from DG AGRI highlighted during the webinars the possibilities for using EAFRD financial instruments in different sectors to support stronger agriculture and green transition, as well as the novelties and increased flexibility offered in the post-2020 CAP rules with this regard.
