Brussels, 17/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - Following the debate, at the Agriculture Council, on the situation in the milk market (see EUROPE 11275), European Commissioner Phil Hogan said that the Commission was working with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to promote investment specifically for the agriculture sector.
Within this investment is a specific line for the restructuring of post-quota milk production. Production quotas are due to end on 31 March.
To complete the positions of the countries, we report that, at the Council, Portugal spoke against the ending of milk quotas. The measures that have so far been taken are insufficient, opined the Portuguese delegation, highlighting the situation of disadvantaged regions once quotas have gone. Denmark, on the other hand, was most upbeat about ending quotas and said that instruments already exist to manage crises.
The European Milk Board (EMB) is planning to hold a purely symbolic demonstration outside the European Parliament on Tuesday 31 March. The EMB says that the end of quotas will result in a further weakening of the market position of European producers. Without instruments, such as the EMB's market responsibility programme (MRP), to prevent crises on the milk market, producers will sink below the waves of surplus milk while agrifood multinationals take over, says the EMB in a press release.
Copa-Cogeca wants super levy compensation
In a press release on Monday 16 March, Copa-Cogeca (EU organisations and cooperatives) says it has called for measures to “offset the impact of the milk super levy (for exceeding quotas) bill on EU dairy producers”. Copa President Albert Jan Maat also returned to the dairy sector measures recently adopted by the European Commission. “We urge member states to make sure that they give their producers the opportunity to pay the milk super levy bill over a longer period of time, as stipulated in the recent EU decision on this. I am disappointed that the fat correction coefficient was not adjusted”, he says. Pekka Pesonen, Copa-Cogeca secretary general, highlighted the urgent need to defend “the EU's high production standards. A much stronger stance is vital in the free trade talks with the US and also with Japan. Opening the US and Japanese markets will be crucial to help offset the effects of the Russian crisis. But it should not be done at any cost. Our trading partners are doing little to cut down on red tape and remove unnecessary obstacles to trade which stop our exports entering non-EU countries”, he notes. (Lionel Changeur)