Brussels, 02/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - Mariann Fischer Boel, the European commissioner for agriculture, on 29 March announced the end of “butter mountains” being stored in the EU. The last stocks of European Union butter, which stand at just over 6000 tonnes, will soon be sold on the market. In 1986, the butter storage record was reached with 1.28 million tonnes. Thanks to the creation of milk quotas, which came in in 1984, these “butter mountains” and the “milk lakes” had gradually been reduced. Given good market conditions, Spain is to sell its last 5593 tonnes of stored butter, the Czech Republic will sell its 420 tonnes and Finland will sell its 78 tonnes (giving a total of 6091 tonnes), for a minimum price of €243.05 per 100 kg.
The intervention mechanism for butter will remain in force if needs be, but there will be a “debate” about whether to abandon or continue with it, at the CAP “health check” in 2008, in light of a report on the functioning of the milk and dairy products sector, which the Commission is due to adopt at the end of the year, the spokesperson to Mariann Fischer Boel announced. In a speech on 23 March in Taormina (Sicily) before the General Confederation of Italian Farmers, the Agriculture Commissioner stated that she was in favour of an end to milk quotas post-2015, as they “no longer correspond to the criteria of a modern Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)”. However, she did point out that producers could expect a “soft landing”. She recommended a small increase in quotas between 2009 and 2015, in order to facilitate their subsequent removal. (lc)