European Commission granted to Italy an aid scheme to support farmers

Under the State aid Regulation, European Commission granted to Italy an aid scheme of limited amounts to support farmers in the current financial and economic crisis (Decision N 706/2009). The aid related amount shall not exceed the cash equivalent of 15,000 € per undertaking.
This aid scheme is meant to give application to the Temporary Community Framework amendments for State aid measures to support access to finance in the current financial and economic crisis, allowing the award of aids of limited amount also to the enterprises active in the primary agricultural sector.  
The aid can be granted from the approval of the scheme until December 31, 2010 at all the public administration level, especially the regional and local level, and it might take different forms of grants, as long as they are awarded in a transparent way in the meaning of article 3 of Regulation EC N 1535/2007.
Only those agricultural producers, active in the primary production, who were not firms in difficulty at the date of July 1th, 2008 (specifically, before the beginning of the related economic crisis) can benefit from the aid. Furthermore, this aid regime is to be combined with other compatible aid measures taken by Italy in view of the current crisis, up to a cash equivalent amount of 15,000 € per undertaking.