Regulation No. 660 determines the procedure for EU emergency support to farmers due to the Middle East crisis

On November 11, 2026, Latvijas Vēstnesis No. 218 (OP 2026/218) published Cabinet of Ministers Regulations No. 660 “Procedure for Granting European Union Emergency Support and State Additional Support to Farmers in Connection with the Middle East Crisis”. This document officially establishes the procedure by which European Union emergency support and state additional support are granted to farmers. The issuing body is the Cabinet of Ministers, and the notice of the regulations’ issuance is included in the “Cabinet of Ministers” section of the publication as document no. 28.

Two Support Sources in One Regulation

The title of the regulations itself specifies two separate support streams combined into a single granting procedure: European Union emergency support and state additional support. Both streams are addressed to a single target group—farmers—and both are linked to a single justification: the Middle East crisis. This means that the basis of the support is not a permanent support measure, but rather an emergency instrument characteristic of a crisis situation, with a national supplement operating in parallel.

The fact of the procedure’s issuance is recorded in the official publication in the following reference forms:

• publication: Latvijas Vēstnesis, November 11, 2026, No. 218;
• official publication reference: OP 2026/218;
• document No. 28 in the “Cabinet of Ministers” section;
• title of the act: “Procedure for Granting European Union Emergency Support and State Additional Support to Farmers in Connection with the Middle East Crisis”;
• type and number of the act: Cabinet of Ministers Regulations No. 660;
• issuing body: Cabinet of Ministers;
• place of publication: vestnesis.lv (document address of the publication).

Framework: What Encompasses This Document

Regulations No. 660 were published in the same issue as a broad package of government decisions: the November 11 issue’s “Cabinet of Ministers” section includes 32 acts—regulations from No. 647 to No. 661 and orders from No. 697 to No. 710, as well as Cabinet of Ministers Meeting Minutes No. 62. This indicates that the support procedure is part of a unified government decision agenda, rather than a separate, extraordinary act.

Amendments to the basic regulation on state support for agriculture were also published in the same issue—Cabinet of Ministers Regulations No. 657, which amended the February 25, 2025, Regulations No. 126 “Procedure for Granting State Support for Agriculture”. Both documents were published with the same date and the same official reference OP 2026/218, allowing the reader to verify them in a single source.

What “Crisis Support” Means and How to Verify It

An emergency support structure means that the granting of funding is not automatic and is not based solely on industry status – it is linked to a specific crisis situation and a specific granting procedure. Therefore, when assessing the availability of support, one should look not at the general state aid regulations, but directly at Regulation No. 660, which includes the granting procedure itself.

Practically, this means three verification steps for every applicant or interested party:

• verify which of the two streams – EU emergency support or state supplementary support – applies to the specific farm;
• compare the requirements of Regulation No. 660 with the amended Regulation No. 126, as they define a different regulation – the permanent state aid procedure;
• use the official publication OP 2026/218 as the primary source, rather than derivative reviews.

Why this is important

Agriculture is a sector where external shocks – market instability, import duties, and supply chain disruptions – translate into direct cost and income fluctuations for farms with annual or longer production cycles. In the context of the Middle East crisis, the procedure issued by the government is a signal that a compensation mechanism is being created at the state and European Union level that operates outside the normal support cycle.

For readers – whether farms, industry organizations, or municipalities – the most important conclusion is that the conditions for receiving support are now determined by a specific, published, and dated document with a clear number: Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 660, issued within the framework of OP 2026/218. These must be read together with the amended Regulation No. 126, as only the coherence of both documents shows which support procedure is applicable in the respective case.

Official source: Latvijas Vēstnesis, November 11, 2026, No. 218, official reference OP 2026/218; document No. 28 in the “Cabinet of Ministers” section – Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 660 “Procedure for granting European Union emergency support and state supplementary support to farmers in connection with the Middle East crisis”; related document No. 25 – Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 657 (amendments to Regulation No. 126 of February 25, 2025).