The European Commission is willing to make 150 million euros (220 million dollars) available to compensate farmers who have been financially affected by a deadly E coli outbreak believed to be linked to vegetables, it said Tuesday, DPA reported.
"We are proposing to launch it at 150 million euros. Then we will see the (compensation) requests we get," Dacian Ciolos, the European Union's agriculture commissioner said as he arrived for a special meeting of agriculture ministers in Luxembourg.
The compensation would be earmarked for the products "most affected" by the E coli crisis.
Officials in Germany, where the outbreak has been centred, initially blamed Spanish cucumbers, but backtracked following laboratory tests.