GERMANY: German farmers have called for emergency aid to combat what has been dubbed the "drought of the century", just a year after flood waters left large swathes of the country submerged.
An unprecedented heatwave has ruined up to 80 per cent of the harvest in southern and eastern Germany, around €1 billion worth of crops, according to the German Farmers' Association (DBV).
It's a picture repeated across Europe, from Portugal and Spain to France and Italy.
Italian farming associations estimate around €5 billion worth of crops have been lost to the drought.
European Union agriculture ministers met in Brussels yesterday to discuss the crisis but any decision on relief from the disaster funds set up last year is not expected before the end of August.
Germany's agriculture minister, Ms Renate Künast, said she would act quickly to provide relief from domestic funds.
"We know we have a big problem," she said in Brussels. However she warned that the situation was a long way from a "catastrophe" and that it "would not be possible to replace everything".
She said she found the €1 billion damage estimate of German farmers to be "a bit high".
Mr Gerd Sonnleitner, head of the DBV, said the drought had already caused "considerably more damage" than last year's floods, affecting around 3.5 million hectares of grain alone.
"For many farmers, this is simply about survival," said Mr Sonnleitner, calling it the worst drought in Germany since 1947.
However Ms Künast has very little room to manoeuvre on compensation: the government paid out millions to those affected by last year's floods.
Now Berlin has plans to slash taxes by around 10 per cent next year to stimulate growth, meaning considerably lower tax revenues.
Official figures show that rainfall levels are down 80 per cent this year in some areas of eastern Germany.
Just 12 months after the River Elbe through Dresden burst its banks, water levels have dropped to just 77 cm.
The Rhine in western Germany has, in parts, reached its lowest level for 27 years, according to officials in Koblenz.
The weather has pushed up the price of grain and fruits such as strawberries and apricots.
Temperatures of up to 38 degrees have played havoc with Germany's infrastructure, softening the surface of motorways as people head off on holidays across the country.
The dry weather has lead to fires in several tinder-dry forests across the continent from Corsica to Lisbon and even as far north as Sweden.
