Brussels, 27/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - At the agricultural fair in Libramont, Belgium, the EU's main agricultural organisations, Copa and Cogeca, argued that a more powerful export strategy needs to be developed and the excellence of quality products promoted.
Copa President Albert Jan Maat said at the fair that farmers deserve better prices. The European institutions, he stated, should be focusing on developing “a far more powerful strategy for exporting outside the EU”, particularly given the current Russian embargo on EU agricultural products. Copa and Cogeca again asked the Commission to advance the direct payments to before 1 December and to ensure that the 2014/2015 superlevy (fine for exceeding quotas) is returned to the dairy sector to help dairy farmers with their cash flow problems. The two organisations also want the milk intervention price to be increased very quickly to take account of higher production costs.
France has repeated on 24 July that, at the Agriculture Council on 7 September (on the agricultural markets situation), it would call for an increase in the milk intervention price (see EUROPE 11366). The agriculture minister, Stéphane Le Foll, said again that he would do all in his power to “obtain Community-level measures, including an increase in the intervention price”, a French Agriculture Ministry press release states. Ahead of the extraordinary Agriculture Council, he has called on producers and industrialists to raise awareness in their networks across Europe. (Lionel Changeur)