The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry, João Ponte, welcomed the European Commission's positive opinion on the proposed amendment to the POSEI/Azores programme for 2018.

"The Government of the Azores received today a communication from the European Commission giving positive opinion on the proposed amendment to the POSEI 2018 programme, which is naturally a cause for satisfaction," said João Ponte.

The government official stated that the regional proposal for the amendment to the POSEI programme was prepared bearing in mind several contributions received from the partners in the sector, starting from the Azores Agricultural Federation.

According to the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission, "the amendment proposed by Portugal is compatible with Community legislation" and it may be applied from January 1.

"We are now awaiting the submission of the consolidated version to disseminate the new POSEI proposal among industry partners and farmers," said the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry.

Earlier this week, the Azorean Government defended in Brussels that the European Commission should look carefully at POSEI after 2020 in order to respond to the increases in production taking place in recent years. Furthermore, it should also ensure new aid schemes as well as the competitiveness of the agri-food sector.

"POSEI is an extremely important to the Azores insofar as it allocates the necessary aid to farmers. This programme allows them to minimise the production costs of agriculture in the Azores that are higher compared to other European regions and even Mainland Portugal," stressed João Ponte.