Brussels, 30/08/2013 (Agence Europe) - Postulating that the end of quotas, planned for 2015, will be particularly tricky for milk producers in mountainous and outlying regions, one MEP advocates, in a draft report to be discussed on 2 September by the EP agriculture committee, that there should be preferential treatment in favour of those producers.
According to the draft report on “maintaining milk production in mountain areas, disadvantaged areas and outermost regions after the expiry of the milk quota regime”, Herbert Dorfmann (EPP), Italian agronomist and a member of the European Parliament agriculture committee, sets out some 15 proposals relating essentially to the common agricultural policy (CAP). In particular the proposals include: - better account to be taken of pastureland when distributing CAP aid; - the establishment of a herbivore premium; - the granting of subsidies to processing companies in order to offset the collection cost that is higher in disadvantaged areas; - and the lightening of administrative constraints weighing on small farms.
The rapporteur considers that, in order to ensure a stable future for the sector and to avoid the depopulation of rural areas, with all the adverse economic and environmental consequences that this entails, additional measures are needed at European level. The rapporteur takes the view that the “milk package”, which aims to strengthen the producers' power of negotiation, is a first step but that it will not be enough to ensure the future of milk production in the most vulnerable regions. (LC/transl.jl)