04/12/2017 (Agence Europe) – The member states of the EU gave their backing at a meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture on Monday 4 December to the European Commission proposal that the automatic intervention mechanism for the dairy markets be suspended in 2018 (see EUROPE 11917). The Commission’s draft regulation proposes that the limit at which public intervention on skimmed milk powder takes place at fixed price in 2018 should be set at zero, rather than the usual 109,000 tonnes in order to prevent stocks which are already large from increasing further next year. If necessary, European Commission will launch calls for offers should market intervention be required. The text is expected to be adopted by written procedure between now and the start of 2018 so that it can come into force on 1 March.