Brussels, 31/08/2009 (Agence Europe) - In a letter dated Tuesday 1 September which was sent to the Council of Ministers of the EU, the European Parliament and Mariann Fischer Boel, Via Campesina (farmers' organisations of small and middle-scale producers and agricultural workers) calls for a change in policy in an effort to solve the crisis in the milk and milk product sector. According to the organisation, the measures taken so far by the EU to tackle the sharp fall in milk production prices have not been effective. On 7 September, the Agriculture Council will examine the European Commission's report on the “milk market situation in 2009” (EUROPE 9946).
In Via Campesina's letter we read that “the crisis will continue because the old recipes you have used and which are proposed in the Commission's report of 22 July are costly to the taxpayer, damaging to third countries and do not tackle the causes of the crisis”. The organisation is calling for the following measures to be taken to tackle the crisis: 1) adapt supply to demand - for the fall in production to be translated into an increase in production prices it will be necessary to review the price setting mechanisms used by the EU, production, industry and distribution. Transparency is needed, as well as reduced margins and a review in current competition rules; 2) differentiate the fall in production and improve the distribution of regional production - the Commission report proposes funding for scrapping production. According to Via Campesina, there has been a “very poor use of public funds”. The organisation adds that “we are requesting that you stop the haemorrhage in the number of milk producers” and calls for the fall in production to be modulated on the basis of farm size; 3) change the modes of production - the EU must reject the heavily energy and transport dependent industrial model, which makes the EU dependent on imports. Farms that have courageously promoted sustainable milk production by cultivating pasture and protein plants have become less dependent on external vagaries and better resistant to the crisis. The EU has enough space to grow its own protein plants. The current distribution of common agricultural policy (CAP) bonuses must be reviewed with this in mind.
Eight countries demand temporary freeze on quota increases
At the end of July, agriculture ministers from eight EU countries (Germany, France, Austria, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia) called on Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture, to examine the possibility of introducing a temporary freeze on quotas to 1% in 2010. These countries also want a temporary increase in intervention prices and export refunds for butter, skimmed milk powder and cheese. Ministers are critical that although the different political options sketched out in the 22 July report “constitute a basis for broader discussions”¸ they “remain largely insufficient”. Several member states want to put a stop to quota increase. Via Campesina says that they need to go further. (L.C./transl.rh)