Luxembourg, 16/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - Copa and Cogeca believe that improvements have been made to the raft of measures to help farmers suffering from the crisis. These improvements were made following the Agriculture Council on Tuesday 15 September in Luxembourg.
The two organisations representing farmers in the EU believe, however, that the measures are “still not sufficient to solve bad situations hitting EU agricultural markets mainly as result of the Russian export ban and unfair actions by retailers”
Copa President Albert Jan Maat welcomed the fact that farmers' cash-flow problems will be helped by advancing their direct payments in the autumn. He also responded positively to the fact that a high level group will look at “ensuring fair competition rules for producers and agri-cooperatives will be set up”. He also welcomed the fact that EU promotion programmes will be boosted and underlined the need to have a strong export strategy and export insurance in the EU beef, pork and milk markets that could cover some of the trading risks. He pointed out that “Priority must also be given to re-opening pigmeat and dairy trade with Russia”.
Cogeca President Christian Pees warned of the severe impact on producers of unfair and abusive practices in the food chain and said “It is time to put a solution in place that combines legislation with good codes of conduct (voluntary agreements)”. He regretted the fact that the package included “very few” market management measures in a context of increasing price volatility. He said that the new private storage aid programme for cheese and pigmeat included in the package went in the right direction but regretted the fact that for the time being there was not going to be any revaluation of European milk intervention prices on the agenda. He urged European ministers to look at the possibility of increasing intervention prices for milk in an effort to stem falling market price trends.
On 24-25 September next, members of Copa will elect a new president and six vice-presidents. (Lionel Changeur)