Lisbon, June 22, 2026 (Lusa) - The Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets on Monday approved €30 million in aid for Portuguese farmers affected by the storms that hit the country at the start of the year.
On Friday, the Minister for Agriculture and the Sea, José Manuel Fernandes, had announced that the vote on this aid would take place the following week.
An official source at the ministry told Lusa that the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets – Horizontal Issues, a European Union body that assists the European Commission, had already given the green light to the allocation of this aid.
Farmers affected by the storms that hit the country at the start of the year will thus have access to €30 million in aid, following a request to Brussels to activate the agricultural reserve, as José Manuel Fernandes told Lusa on 12 June.
According to the government, the European Commission recognised “the fairness and justification” of the request submitted by Portugal, granting the maximum possible support.
The amount in question comes from the agricultural reserve, which is a financial instrument under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), designed to respond to market disruptions, price fluctuations and crises affecting both food production and distribution.
This instrument has an annual allocation of €450 million, which the 27 member states can access.
The draft implementing regulation had already provided for an extraordinary support package, intended not only for Portugal but also for Croatia, Cyprus, Romania and Slovenia.
The document stipulated that Portugal will receive the largest share of this European package, namely €30 million.
This is followed by Romania (€14.8 million), Cyprus (€4.6 million), Croatia (€4.6 million) and Slovenia (€2.8 million).
Each government has the flexibility to define the priority sectors.
Portugal was hit by a series of storms between late January and mid-February, which mainly affected the country’s central region.
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