At the EU ‘Agriculture’ Council on Monday 26 January, Italy, supported by Romania and Slovakia, called on the European Commission to activate an “Extraordinary EU Plan” to tackle the crisis in the dairy sector.
According to these Member States (https://aeur.eu/f/kfh ), the European dairy market is facing a growing imbalance between rising supply and insufficient demand. This situation of overproduction has led to a gradual fall in raw milk prices since September 2025.
As a priority, the three countries are calling for the introduction of a European voluntary production reduction programme, with financial compensation for farmers who agree to limit their volumes.
Italy, Romania and Slovakia are calling for the activation of private storage aid for cheese, butter and UHT milk, as well as targeted support measures for the most vulnerable farms, notably in the form of debt moratoria. They also say that it is necessary to mobilise the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived more effectively. Finally, the three countries are calling as well for massive investment in extraordinary promotional campaigns for European dairy products.
“It is too early to say that there is a crisis on the milk market”, said the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen. For him, global demand for dairy products remains solid, offering stable outlets for EU production. He indicated that he would be stepping up his monitoring of the markets and that he was ready to act if the situation so required. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)