Brussels, 31/05/2011 (Agents Europe) - At a meeting of EU27 farm ministers in Debrecen(Hungary) on Tuesday 31 May, several countries, including France and Spain, called for measures to be introduced to help dairy farmers in disadvantaged areas (like mountains) to adjust to the phasing out of dairy quotas in 2015. Other more free market-inclined countries, like the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, disagreed, saying that new measures should not be set up but the end of dairy quotas should be used to win new markets.
The main item on the agenda of the Debrecen meeting was the animal husbandry sector, which is experiencing problems, explained the Hungarian farm minister Sandor Fazekas at a press conference
Dacian Cioloº said that meat and dairy farming accounted for nearly half of all farming in the European Union in terms of value. He pointed out that he had introduced a raft of draft legislation for the dairy industry and hoped agreement would be reached on it at a meeting of EU ministers early in the Polish Presidency. Cioloº said that a review of the dairy industry was planned for 2014 when lessons could be learnt from the new rules and any new measures required could be introduced before the phasing out of dairy quotas is complete (in 2015). The commissioner said that the market for beef was doing well (both EU consumption and the export market), but farmers' income and margins had been cut and the EU's market management systems needed improving to cope with the unusual situations arising in the beef industry. To this end, the Commission has suggested setting up a working group on the beef sector (like it has done for the pork industry). Eleven member states have already given their backing for this idea, namely Belgium, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland and Portugal.
The president of COPA, Gerd Sonnleitner, attended the meeting in Debrecen. He commented: “We also call for emergency financing for livestock farmers to help them through this difficult period.” (L.C./transl.fl)