Commission clears 212 million euro French farm diesel aid until March 2027

The European Commission has authorised a French scheme worth 212 million euro to offset part of the price of non-road diesel (known in France as GNR) bought for farm work between September and December 2026, after fuel costs rose sharply because of the crisis in the Near and Middle East. The decision, adopted on 30 October 2026 in case SA.124997, raised no objections under Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It was published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 13 November 2026, in the section reserved for State aid cases where the Commission raises no objections (C/2026/6021).

The measure is not a new regime but a modification of an existing one, SA.123666 (2026/N). Its legal basis is a draft decree amending Décret n° 2026-477 of 10 June 2026, the text that first created a financial aid for the purchase of non-road diesel used in agricultural and forestry works. The change extends the compensation to diesel acquired in the last four months of 2026, the period in which the price increase tied to the Near and Middle East crisis was concentrated.

What Brussels has approved

The notice sets out the technical parameters of the scheme in standard State aid format:

• Total budget: 212 000 000 EUR.
• Aid intensity: 70,0 %.
• Form of aid: direct grant.
• Duration: until 31 March 2027.
• Type of measure: scheme (aid programme, not an individual payment).
• Objective: agriculture; forestry; rural areas; fisheries and aquaculture.
• Economic sectors covered: crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities, and aquaculture.

The reference to the crisis in the Near and Middle East places the scheme inside the framework of exceptional aid that the Commission has been authorising since 2026 to soften the effect of energy costs on primary producers.

Who grants and who receives the money

The granting authority named in the notice is the Ministère de l’Agriculture, de l’Agro-alimentaire et de la Souveraineté alimentaire, at 3 rue Barbet de Jouy, 75007 Paris. The wording of the case title ties the compensation to non-road diesel used for agricultural work, while the underlying decree cited as legal basis covers both agricultural and forestry works, and the declared objective also includes forestry, fisheries and aquaculture. Beneficiaries are therefore undertakings in the primary production sectors listed, not processors or distributors.

The approved text, with confidential information removed, is available through the Commission’s public competition case register, and the notice carries the European Legislation Identifier http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/6021/oj.

One piece of a wider wave of crisis aid

The French scheme joins a series of decisions published in the same period of 2026. France has also obtained clearance for SA.124553, a 25 million euro scheme at 70 % intensity for fishing firms affected by the fuel price rise between 1 June and 31 October 2026, granted through the Direction générale des affaires maritimes, de la pêche et de l’aquaculture, and for the Prêt Flash Carburant instruments in transport (SA.124290, 23,3 million euro) and in agriculture, fishing and aquaculture (SA.124159, 17,2 million euro, channelled through Bpifrance). Other capitals have moved in the same direction: the Illes Balears obtained 750 000 euro for agricultural diesel under SA.124823, Portugal 30 million euro under SA.124487, Romania 58,8 million euro for pig breeders under SA.124649, and Sweden 1 644 million Swedish kronor at 85 % intensity under SA.123975.

For French farmers and foresters, the practical consequence is that the compensation mechanism for diesel bought between September and December 2026 now has clearance from Brussels and can be paid under the amended decree, with the scheme open until the end of March 2027. The decision also confirms that the Commission continues to treat energy-cost compensation for primary producers as compatible aid when it is capped in budget, time and intensity, a template that several member states are replicating case by case.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, C series, C/2026/6021, 13 November 2026, section I (official reference: SA.124997 / C/2026/6021).