Brussels, 25/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 22 April, Presidents of the farm organisations and agri-cooperatives from across Europe met up in Brussels to warn of the "unprecedented crisis hitting EU agricultural markets".
Martin Merrild, Copa President, said that the measures adopted by the EU for improving the situation "have had little impact". He pointed out that "The market - especially for beef, pork and dairy - is continuing to worsen". Pigmeat prices are lower than they were 11 years ago. Mr Merrild said that "It is unacceptable that farmers are paying the price of the political dispute with Russia. Re-opening this market is a priority". He pointed out that farmers and agri-cooperatives are also more exposed to market forces and they need access to market data so that they can plan ahead and hedge against risks. He therefore warned against opening up the EU market to imports from the Latin American Trade bloc Mercosur and claimed that"These imports do not meet the EU's high environmental and quality standards and there are still serious concerns about safety aspects of meat production in these countries and their use of antibiotic growth promoters which is banned in the EU". He concluded that "There's something definitely wrong when the price of milk is lower than the price of water".
Cogeca President Thomas Magnusson underlined the importance of getting the food chain working properly again so that farmers get a better return from the market and are not squeezed unfairly. Copa & Cogeca are set to hold a workshop to start debating the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in May. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)